Minden detectives are currently seeking the whereabouts of 39-year-old Leslie Wooten in connection with a December, 2025 commercial burglary in Minden.
At approximately 10:54 that evening, patrol officers responded to a commercial burglary with forced entry at Verizon Wireless in the 100 block of Madison Ave. Officers conducted a preliminary investigation into the incident.
During the officers’ initial investigation, they noticed cabinets had been rummaged through and the safe door had been cut open. Additionally, officers noticed the back door had been pried open. Officers then notified detectives of the incident.
During the course of the investigation, detectives discovered blood on the back door, the safe, the floor near the safe, merchandise and on a $1 bill. Detectives collected DNA samples from the scene and reviewed camera footage regarding the incident.
According to the camera footage, a black male wearing camouflage coveralls and a ski mask entered the business. He reentered the business with a bag that contained a power saw, sawed open the safe door and took merchandise and cash from it.
DNA samples were subsequently submitted to the Northwest Louisiana Crime Lab for analysis, and detectives placed the case on inactive pending results from the crime lab.
On June 18, Minden detectives received a CODIS hit regarding a DNA match from a 2017 burglary case in Harris County, Texas. Detectives contacted the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and were provided their case file information.
According to the case files, the DNA evidence that the Harris County Sheriff’s Office submitted during their 2017 burglary investigation matched the DNA of Wooten. On Feb. 9, 2023, Wooten was subsequently convicted of the 2017 Harris County burglary.
On Thursday, June 25, Minden detectives secured an arrest warrant for Wooten based on the DNA match from the 2017 Harris County burglary case.
Leslie Wooten is wanted for simple burglary and simple criminal damage to property with a surety bond amount of $26,500.
Please contact Detective Matthew Hicks (318-639-7776) if you have any information regarding Leslie Wooten’s whereabouts.
Any information will be confidential.
The Minden Police Department would like to thank the Northwest Louisiana Crime Lab and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for their great assistance our investigation.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
