Six teens in stolen SUV charged in spree of car break-ins

Six teenagers face serious charges after police caught them in a stolen vehicle with items taken during a series of car break-ins.

All six were arrested Tuesday morning near the corner of Blairs Ferry Road and Edgewood Road, after another motorist reported a sport-utility vehicle driving recklessly. The vehicle was initially reported to be near the Hiawatha police station, on North Center Point Road.

The officer who located the vehicle realized it had been reported stolen from Cedar Rapids the day before and made the traffic stop.

Gene Nelson, 16, of Cedar Rapids, was the driver of the vehicle and has been charged with operation without owner's consent. He and five other teens also were charged with second-degree theft, because the value of the items they were accused of stealing totaled more than $1,000.

The other teens charged with second-degree theft were: Jequen Ellis, 15, Tairee Henderson, 16, Brian Jones, 15, and Michael Valentine, 14, all of Cedar Rapids, and DeTonce Goodlow, 15, of Hiawatha.

Hiawatha Police Chief Dennis Marks said GPS units, MP3 players, car stereos, credit cards and CDs were located in the 2006 Jeep Commander, along with the teens. He said the credit cards were used at various locations in the Cedar Rapids area.

Marks said the car break-ins happened between Sunday evening and Tuesday morning.

"We were able to return several items back to owners that discovered their vehicles were broken into and subsequently filed reports," said Marks, who added that not all of the victims have been located.

Marks said the investigation led to a second stolen vehicle being recovered outside of Hiawatha. He declined to provide additional details about that vehicle, because it was outside of his jurisdiction.

All of the teens were transported to the Linn County Juvenile Detention Center. Second-degree theft is a class D felony.