Police have arrested 16-year-old Timothy Jamar Roary (Left) and 18-year-old Alfonso Rashad Lewis (Right) after leading police on a chase through two counties.Union County sheriff's deputies said the teenagers rammed a stolen Honda into two police cruisers while trying to get away and one deputy was banged up. The injured officer spent the night in hospital for observation.
The chase started when deputies spotted one of the suspects driving a stolen car in the Weddington Chase Community. They attempted to pull the teen over but he took off. Then, another stolen car was spotted but he drove off also. Deputies chased them both to Charlotte, and despite their attempts to get away, they were arrested. Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey said he believes the two were part of a group that broke into dozens of cars in the county.
Authorities said the two young men may be part of a massive crime ring that stretches across the Piedmont. Police are looking for two or three other members of the alleged crime ring, which included vehicle thefts and violent crimes in Mecklenburg, Iredell, Union, Cabarrus and Gaston counties in North Carolina and York County in South Carolina.
Authorities said the other members of the group are still on the loose.
Police in Charlotte are looking at the suspects in connection with some armed robberies. When they searched their house, they found several sets of keys. Those keys led them to an apartment complex where 17 stolen cars had been dumped, officers said.
So far sheriff's deputies have recovered $87,000 including four cars. Investigators said the evidence inside those vehicles led them to stolen property from other cases in counties from Catawba down to Mecklenburg. According to reports, over six different law enforcement agencies have visited the two suspects in the Union County jail to question them.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police were still building their case against the two men when they were arrested Wednesday. The two suspects will now faces charges in Union County first. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Brian Wakeland has been working the case and he said the men are behind more than just car break-ins and thefts. "I had one man in Cabarrus County, he was asleep in his house, his children were upstairs, and these guys were downstairs taking his wife's purse and keys off the kitchen counter," he said.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (704) 334-1600.
Watch VIDEO & Source: WSOC-TV