Two Florida men made the bad decision to try and escape justice in Stafford County and the even worse decision to lead police on a pursuit to the back entrance of the jail.

On March 1st, at approximately 2:00 p.m. Fredericksburg Police was notified that several vehicles were broken into and multiple credit cards were stolen. While investigating the incident, one victim was alerted that their credit card was used at Target in Central Park. Target was able to provide a suspect vehicle description. A Virginia State Trooper located the vehicle on Northbound I-95 and attempted to initiated a traffic stop, but the suspect driver had other plans. This resulted in a pursuit that entered into Stafford County.

At 2:36 p.m. deputies responded to assist in the pursuit in the area of Courthouse Road and Wyche Road. The suspect vehicle was heading towards the Juvenile Detention Center. The suspect vehicle hit a State Trooper’s vehicle in the Juvenile Detention Center parking lot and both the driver and passenger began fleeing on foot. Luckily, the Trooper was not injured during the crash.

Sergeant G.A. Haney was off-duty and happened to be at the Sheetz, located at 15 Wyche Road, when he observed the pursuit go by and realized the Trooper did not currently have backup. He followed the chase and was able to quickly apprehend the fleeing driver with the help of the Virginia State Trooper.

Deputy S.M. Eastman, and his partner Ruby, began tracking the passenger through the woods. Ruby was able to track the fleeing suspect over a mile. Realizing Ruby was hot on his trail, the passenger began running once again, despite Deputy Eastman giving him verbal commands to stop. Deputy Eastman, using his handy dandy radio, informed deputies the suspect was heading towards Richmond Highway. Deputy R.A. Weatherholtz was already on Richmond Highway and was quickly able to locate the running man. The suspect once again ignored commands to stop; however, he was no match for the speeding feet of Deputy Weatherholtz.

The driver, Jeffery Wilson, 21, was charged with six counts of credit card theft, two counts of credit card fraud, vandalism of a motor vehicle, obstruction of justice, two counts of reckless driving, hit and run, as well as, felony eluding. He was held at Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond. The passenger, who provided a fake identity, was identified as Leskeil Richards, 27. Richards was charged with six counts of credit card theft, two counts of credit card fraud, vandalism of a motor vehicle, obstruction of justice, falsely identifying himself to law enforcement, as well as, identity theft. He too was held without bond. During Richard’s arraignment this morning, he once again attempted to hide who he really was, which was quickly stopped by Deputy Weatherholtz. Richards added two counts of forgery to his ever-growing list of charges.

Further proof that running from law enforcement in Stafford County will just make you tired, and prolong your stay at Rappahannock Regional Jail. Thank you to Virginia State Police and the Fredericksburg Police Department for your assistance in apprehending these two individuals.