June 18, 2008
Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

DEPUTIES STOP VEHICLE LINKED TO LAKE COUNTY AMBER ALERT 

A code enforcement officer’s chance sighting of the vehicle law enforcement authorities were searching for in connection to Wednesday’s Amber Alert led to the suspect’s capture and safe return of two children. Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies stopped the vehicle at 11:47 a.m. as it traveled northbound on U.S. 17-92 near Orange Camp Road just south of DeLand. The driver, 36-year-old James Ragins, obeyed the deputies’ commands and was immediately taken into custody. The two children inside the vehicle were unharmed. 

While Volusia deputies were already on alert for the suspect’s 1990, white Chevrolet Blazer, it was a 911 call from an alert code enforcement officer at 11:19 a.m. that led to a quick resolution of Wednesday’s domestic incident that started in Lake County. A code enforcement officer from Marion County was in DeLand, inside her vehicle and listening to the radio when she heard the Amber Alert being broadcast. Moments later, she looked up and spotted the Blazer in the parking lot of a Hess Food Mart on South Spring Garden Avenue west of DeLand. A few minutes later, the Blazer pulled out of the parking lot and headed west on S.R. 44. The code enforcement officer followed behind at a safe distance and remained on the line with a Sheriff’s Office telecommunicator for nearly 14 minutes to let authorities know the Blazer’s direction of travel. 

At about 11:40 a.m., a Sheriff’s Office helicopter spotted the vehicle and notified deputies on the ground. Patrol deputies were swiftly dispatched to the area of McGregor Road and U.S. 17 and stopped the vehicle seven minutes later. The suspect and children were brought to the Sheriff’s Office’s district headquarters in DeLand and turned over to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have any charges on the suspect.