Lexington PD: 5 charged, including teen, in vehicle theft, car break-ins

LEXINGTON, SC (WIS) - The Lexington Police Department says five people, including a teen, have been arrested in connection to a series of car break-ins and two vehicle thefts that happened a more than a month ago.

James Lamont Thomas, 17, of Hopkins, Keion Dionta Bailey, 17, of Columbia, William Cornelius Moore-Holley, 17, of Columbia, and Sir Joe La-Taludean Elijha Walker, 18, of Columbia, along with a juvenile male, age 15 of Columbia, have all been charged with two counts of theft of motor vehicle, two counts of theft from motor vehicle and four counts of criminal conspiracy.

On July 17, multiple vehicles were broken into within the Reserve at Mill Landing Apartments and Cedarcrest Apartments complexes, police say. These apartment complexes are located on East Main Street and victims reported multiple items stolen to include a handgun and a laptop computer.

Officers also took incident reports of two vehicles which were stolen from the parking lot of the Reserve at Mill Landing Apartments.  These stolen vehicles were both recovered the next day in Columbia.

During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the five suspects had met at a nearby convenience immediately after these incidents.  Photographs were shared of the suspects with a news release which resulted in numerous tips that assisted detectives in the investigation and arrests of these subjects.

Walker and Moore-Holley were also arrested in Kershaw Co. on similar charges.

"The Town of Lexington community is reminded to always remove valuables, to include car keys, from their vehicle each night and to ensure car doors are locked to help prevent auto tampering, theft from motor vehicles and auto theft incidents from occurring," a spokesperson from the police department said.

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