LEESBURG — Leesburg’s infamous teen car thief was arrested again Wednesday, but this time for allegedly menacing his sister with a gun.

Jakiel Monroe, 15, was arrested by Leesburg police for allegedly pointing a loaded gun at his sister during an argument.

Their father, who lives in Wildwood, heard about it a few days later, and after learning it went unreported he called Leesburg police, who visited the family’s Leesburg residence. Jakiel was not home at the time.

Officers interviewed the sister, who told them she didn’t fear for her life and wasn't even sure the gun was real. When their mother got home, she apparently tried to stop the girl from filing an official statement, but then relented after speaking with officers.

In the end, it would be Jakiel’s mother, who once pleaded with a court to offer Jakiel a lenient curfew after an arrest, who turned him in. Captain Joe Iozzi of the Leesburg Police Department said Thursday that she turned Jakiel over to them for fear he might end up pointing the gun at officers.

“We’re happy that he’s in custody and we’re happy that this is the way it happened,” Iozzi said.

Wednesday's arrest was the latest in a very long line of arrests for the teen. Jakiel has achieved a degree of notoriety in law enforcement circles for being a prolific car thief.

In 2016, when he was just 12, he was charged with stealing 12 cars and was sentenced to 11 months of detention. When he was released he reportedly told his mother and a juvenile justice official that he planned to return to his criminal ways.

True to his word, within days of getting out in July 2017, he and another juvenile were charged with breaking into a garage and stealing a motorcycle. In October 2017, he was convicted of four new auto thefts and sent to juvenile detention for another six to nine months. During his sentencing, police estimated the teen was responsible for roughly one in every five car thefts in Leesburg.

At his sentencing, Judge Michal Takac encouraged the youngster to mend his ways.

“Jakiel, I can’t count on one hand the number of times someone has come up to me and said, ‘Judge, you don’t remember me but you sentenced me to a program and I’m doing good. I have a job, I have a family now.’" Takac told the boy. "People have been successful and are doing well. Got it?”

"Yes sir," Jakiel replied.

Yet Iozzi said police have seen another uptick in auto thefts since the boy's latest release from juvenile detention. He's just glad officers didn't encounter an armed Jakiel stealing a car.

“We prefer to do this the easy way,” Iozzi said. “Nonetheless it’s sad every time a juvenile is going through a time of life where they have the opportunity to change direction and they don’t take it."

Walter Forgie of the State Attorney’s Office said it’s too early to say whether Jakiel will be tried as an adult for the gun incident. He said his office will carefully consider the boy's age, number of crimes and the severity of the crime.