CENTRALIA — A St. Louis family is thanking the Centralia Police Department after they discovered and returned a boy’s stolen laptop.

According to posts on social media, the family was in Centralia where their son was filming trains at the depot.

Sergeant Steve Whritenour says Patrolman Jordan Ledbetter had taken a stolen bike report at the beginning of the 3-11 p.m. shift and less than 45 minutes later had located a male riding a bicycle that matched the description of the stolen bike.

The suspect was taken into custody and the bicycle returned to its owner. But Ledbetter noted a backpack the suspect had been carrying contained items that didn’t match the suspect.

Cards inside the backpack carried the name, “Alex the Watcher,” and after conducting a few Google and Youtube searches Ledbetter discovered “Alex the Watcher,” films trains all around Southern Illinois.

Ledbetter interviewed the suspect and determined the backpack had just been stolen from the train station.

Whritenour then contacted the owners who hadn’t even realized the backpack was missing and reunited them with their belongings.

Recently promoted to sergeant, Whritenour notes he was Ledbetter’s Field Training Officer and is proud that his first commendation as sergeant will be going to Officer Ledbetter.