EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine announced Wednesday that a Granite City man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing a car while two young girls were inside the vehicle.
George Garcia-Flores, 22, received the sentence after pleading guilty Wednesday to Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking, a class X felony.
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The carjacking happened on July 17, 2025, outside a retail business in Granite City. The owner of the vehicle, an Infiniti G35 coupe, was outside the car at the time, but two of his family members – a 9-year-old girl and a 1-year-old girl – were still inside the vehicle.
According to witnesses, Garcia-Flores started to drive off, but ordered the girls to exit the vehicle before fleeing. A bystander helped the younger girl get out of the vehicle.
Granite City Police later apprehended Garcia-Flores.
“This perpetrator is a clear threat to public safety,” Haine said. “We’re thankful that law enforcement officers apprehended him and gathered the evidence our prosecution team needed to secure this conviction and 18-year sentence.”
Along with Granite City Police, other police agencies that assisted in the investigation and apprehension of the defendant included Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Pontoon Beach Police, Fairmont City Police, Collinsville Police and Metro-East Auto Theft Task Force.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Maricle, who is chief of the Violent Crime Unit at the State’s Attorney’s Office.
The vehicle was recovered in St. Louis. The family’s dog, a rat terrier, was inside the vehicle during the carjacking. The dog was later found wandering in Granite City, after it was posted on a community Facebook page as a missing pet.
Garcia-Flores also pleaded guilty to charges in two separate cases. He pleaded guilty to a charge of vehicle theft for stealing a pickup in Glen Carbon on July 16, 2025, and he pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated fleeing for fleeing from police on July 15 in Collinsville. He was sentenced to five years in prison for the vehicle theft, and three years in prison for aggravated fleeing. Those sentences are to be served
concurrently with the 18-year term for aggravated carjacking.
