THREE STOLEN VEHICLES LEAD TO I-4 CRASH

Three car thieves barely got down the road from the car lot they burglarized when a Volusia County Sheriff’s deputy was already behind them attempting a traffic stop. The three refused to pull over and instead fled down International Speedway Boulevard near Daytona Beach. One stolen vehicle eventually crashed on I-4 while the other two eluded capture. The teenage driver who had crashed tried to run away and hide, but was captured a few minutes later. Law enforcement is still looking for the other two drivers.

A security officer at Daytona Auto Dealers Exchange, 1305 Indian Lake Road, called 911 at 4:45 a.m. to report that three vehicles had just been stolen and sped out of the parking lot. The business is just down the road from the Sheriff’s Office communications center where the 911 call was answered. The on-duty communications center supervisor, Sgt. Dominick Amendolare, immediately jumped into his patrol car and drove down the street where he found the trio about to turn onto International Speedway Boulevard. He tried to pull one of the vehicles over, but they all fled. The sergeant didn’t pursue the thieves, but reported to other units over the radio their location as he spotted them in the traffic ahead of him. At this point one of the vehicles split off from the other two and eluded capture. The remaining two then got onto I-4 and headed westbound toward Orlando.

Sheriff’s deputies and Florida Highway Patrol units kept track of the fleeing vehicles while a Sheriff’s Office helicopter flew overhead. Just after passing the Saxon Boulevard exit in the Deltona area, one of the vehicles, a 2006 Nissan Murano, lost control and crashed in the Interstate median. The other vehicle continued westbound. The driver of the crashed vehicle then got out and fled toward a nearby neighborhood. But with a helicopter overhead and K-9 units tracking him on the ground, he didn’t get far. He was found hiding beside a house on Kettering Road and apprehended.

The captured driver is 15-year-old Jeremiah Pinkerd from Orlando. He faces one charge of business burglary, four charges of grand theft auto and one charge of fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer. Beside the three vehicles stolen from the auto dealer, deputies also later found a stolen vehicle outside the business’ fence that is reported stolen out of Orlando and is believed to be what the three thieves used to get to the Daytona Beach area.

The only current description of the remaining two suspects is they are young black males. One of the still-missing stolen vehicles is an unknown model, dark colored passenger car, and the other is a dark colored Infiniti G35. Neither vehicle has a license plate. Anyone with information about the remaining two suspects is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (386) 323-0151 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida, toll-free, at (888) 277-TIPS. Tipsters can also provide information by texting “TIP231 plus the message” to CRIMES. Anyone who provides information to Crime Stoppers will remain anonymous and can qualify for a reward of up to $1,000.