ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Two were charged Friday for a recent string of store robberies in south St. Louis County.
James Leach, 68, of St. Louis, is charged with four counts of first-degree robbery, three counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree attempted robbery.
Kelly Lenz, 31, of Cuba, Missouri, is accused of being Leach's driver for some of the robberies. She is charged with two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree attempted robbery.
According to a probable cause statement from the St. Louis County Police Department, Leach robbed an American Cleaners in Mehlville on Nov. 26, a Phillips 66 in Mehlville on Nov. 28 and a Cricket Wireless store in Affton on Dec. 1.
In each incident, he pointed or displayed a knife to the clerks and made them give him cash, police said.
On Dec. 5, police said Leach threatened to shoot a Mehlville Dierbergs cashier if she didn't give him money, but left without taking any money. Five minutes later, he entered a Metro PCS in Lemay, implied he had a weapon and made the clerk give him cash.
Police said Leach admitted to the robberies.
Lenz was captured on camera driving Leach from the American Cleaners, police said, and she admitted to driving Leach to and from the Dierbergs and Metro PCS robberies.
Leach and Lenz are each being held on $125,000 cash bond.
The St. Louis County Police Department’s Bureau of Crimes Against Persons is investigating the robberies.
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