FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — A Jacksonville man wanted in Southeast Georgia and a Callahan woman are facing charges after deputies say they abandoned a stolen truck and stole items from a hunting camp in Flagler County.
Jerrod D. Oats, 21, and Jada A. Wells, 21, were arrested by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office after a seven-hour search in the woods of the hunting camp, according to a release from FCSO.
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The incident began just after 3 p.m. Monday, when Putnam County Sheriff’s Office deputies notified FCSO that a Chevy truck that had been reported stolen from St. Marys, Georgia, had just entered Flagler County on State Road 100. PCSO told FCSO that the driver was wearing a yellow-hooded sweater and the passenger was wearing a black-hooded sweater.
A Flagler deputy then found the truck abandoned on John Campbell Road just north of SR 100, the release said. Deputies found shoe prints going from the truck into the woods, as well as several articles of clothing.
Read: Caught on body-cam video: Flagler County Sheriff pulls over felon from Palatka for DUI
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly joined the search for the two as well. FCSO had notified people who live in the area to watch out for the fugitives and call them if they saw anything suspicious.
Dispatchers got a call from a person just before 8 p.m. saying that a woman was on their back porch, knocking at the door, asking for something to drink and a phone charger.
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A property owner then gave deputies a picture of Oats from his security camera. Deputies found shoe prints similar to ones found near the stolen truck, and tracked them to a hunting camp along John Campbell Road.
Oats was found to be inside a bunk house before he ran away. Deputies tracked him on foot and through the air with FCSO’s new drone. They found him with a flashlight and wearing camouflaged clothes, both of which he had stolen from the hunting camp.
His arrest was captured on body-worn camera video. WARNING: The video below contains graphic language
Oats was arrested by FCSO on two counts of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, resisting law enforcement and grand theft auto along with 10 counts of fugitive from justice, one for each active arrest warrant.
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FCSO said Oats will be extradited to Camden County, Georgia, on the following charges: armed robbery, willful obstruction of law enforcement, kidnapping, giving false name to law enforcement, sexual battery of a child under 16 years of age, aggravated assault, marijuana possession (two counts), theft by deception and violation of probation.
Wells is charged with two felony counts of burglary of an occupied dwelling and grand theft auto along with resisting law enforcement. She’s being held on $8,000 bond in the Flagler County Jail.
“It took us seven hours, but we got them,” Staly said in the release. “Let this be a warning to fugitives and dirtbags that come into our county. We don’t give up until we get you!”
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