Pursuit of vehicle in high speed chase ends with repeat offender in custody awaiting sentencing; defendant could see 60 years prison

RACINE — The first day of 2024 didn’t turn out very well for a 20-year-old Racine man, who was facing a sentencing hearing last week in two other cases that likely would land him in prison when the vehicle he was driving was clocked going well over the posted limit of 45 mph.

Leondre Varner remains in custody in the Racine County Jail on a $7,500 cash bond on two felony charges of second-degree recklessly endangering safety, one for attempting to flee/elude police and six for bail jumping.

All totaled the nine new charges carry a possible maximum prison term of nearly 60 years and a total fine of $120,000.

Court records show a plea/sentencing hearing was originally scheduled for the current charges against Varner on Jan. 16, at 10 a.m., the same time he was to be sentenced in two other pending cases. The record goes on to show that the defense did not file the plea paperwork on time and requested a new date. The new hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12, 2024, at 1:30 p.m.

Varner pleaded guilty to two felony bail-jumping charges and one felony count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in one case and to felony fleeing/eluding an officer in the other. The court records show the district attorney will recommend no more than eight years in prison on those four charges.

The criminal complaint in the most recent case: Speeding vehicle clocked, driver attempts to elude police

A Caledonia Police Department officer was on patrol, headed westbound on Northwestern Avenue near Deer Creek Drive on Jan. 1, at about 3:39 a.m. The officer clocked Varner’s vehicle traveling at 70 mph in a 45 mph zone.

After the officer got his squad behind the defendant, the speed climbed to more than 90 mph and then to in excess of 100 mph as it reached Airline Road. At that point, the defendant’s vehicle was “pulling away” from the officer, who observed erratic and reckless driving, which led a supervisor to terminate the pursuit.

As the officer pulled over, he observed the defendant’s vehicle head north on Golf Road. Racine Police later advised they found the unoccupied 2014 blue Ford Edge in the 3000 block of Barbara Drive.

Police spoke to a woman who had been a passenger and stated that two other people had fled from the vehicle. The woman stated the other occupants knew law enforcement was in pursuit, and she yelled at the defendant to stop the vehicle and to slow down.

Shortly after, police found another female hiding behind a fence, who told them Varner was the operator. She said they were coming back from Milwaukee when she told him to slow down.

Varner allegedly told her if the cops attempted to stop him, “they will be going on high speed.”

As police spoke to a homeowner who had video surveillance, a silver Sedan without a license plate slowly pulled into the rear parking lot of a building on Northwestern Avenue with its headlights extinguished, but with the occupants still inside.

The Sedan then stopped in the middle of the roadway when a Black male who matched the defendant’s description sprinted from between two houses and toward the stopped vehicle.

Varner quickly entered the rear passenger side door, and the vehicle then sped off northbound on Adams Drive and eastbound on Golf Avenue, which leads directly to Northwestern Avenue.

Police stopped the vehicle, and Varner was identified and taken into custody. The operator stated that Varner had called her and told her to come pick him up, the complaint states.