Pursuits are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. After a theft of boxes of candy from a local Walmart yesterday, a pursuit resulted in the arrest of a wanted Spotsylvania woman.

On February 13th at 5:15 p.m. deputies responded to the Walmart at 11 Village Parkway for a larceny. Store staff reported a female had been shoplifting. When confronted, she abandoned over $600 of merchandise and fled with three heart shaped boxes of candy. The suspect drove away in a grey Mercedes C30. The employees also provided the vehicle registration for responding deputies.

Deputy X.D. Bates located the suspect vehicle southbound on Warrenton Road and attempted a traffic stop near Commerce Parkway. Unfortunately, the suspect elected not to stop and initiated a pursuit, passing through a red traffic signal at Sanford Drive.

The pursuit continued onto I-95 South at speeds up to 86 mph. Deputy A.M. Pitts and Deputy M.E. Gordon joined Deputy Bates and orchestrated a textbook rolling road block at the 131 mile marker in front of the rest area.

The driver was taken into custody without incident and identified as Dawn Lewis, 57. She was found to be wanted in Fredericksburg for grand larceny and failure to appear and in Spotsylvania for shoplifting. Deputy Bates added charges of felony eluding, driving suspended and petit larceny.

A passenger in the suspect vehicle was released. The passenger mentioned that as Deputy Bates pulled in behind them on Warrenton Road, Lewis said, “I’m going to jail.” That was a bit of foreshadowing as she was held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail.

Excellent work by these deputies to safely end this pursuit and arrest another wanted suspect.