- April 25, 2024
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Flagler County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a man and a woman after the pair entered Flagler County in a stolen truck, then abandoned it and ran when deputies chased them.
Suspects Jerrod Oats and Jada Wells face multiple charges after the seven-hour pursuit.
Oats was a fugitive with 10 arrest warrants from Georgia for charges including armed robbery, kidnapping, sexual battery of a child under 16 years of age and aggravated assault, according to a press release from the FCSO.
“Here’s another fugitive with arrest warrants who thought he could flee from our deputies,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said. “You can run from us, but we don’t easily give up, and you just go to jail tired.”
The FCSO was notified of the suspects’ presence when a truck stolen from St. Mary's, Georgia, entered Flagler County with two occupants just after 3 p.m., according to an arrest affidavit.
Deputy Seth Green found the truck empty just north of State Road 100, near John Campbell Road, according to the press release.
Deputies scoured the area with a police dog and a helicopter, finding a towel and a knit beanie — but no suspects — before ending the search, according to the report.
Close to 7 p.m., someone who owns property near the location of the abandoned truck called the Sheriff’s Office and said they saw a man on a game camera north of the truck.
Deputies arrived and found shoe prints matching ones exiting the truck, according to the affidavit. The tracks were going north, toward a hunting camp on John Campbell Road.
The search began again with a police dog and a helicopter, and deputies tracked Oats to a dwelling at a hunting camp, the report said. Oats fled into the woods, but deputies chased him and caught him just before 10 p.m.
Wells had been caught earlier, when a woman at a different property called 911and said that a woman — later identified as Wells — was banging on her door.
Staly credited the capture in part to residents who called in suspicious activity.
“This is another great example of our emergency calling system and the ‘see something, say something' working,” Staly said. “A special thank you to the resident for calling us immediately.”
In Flagler County, Oats has been charged with 10 counts of fugitive from justice, two counts of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, grand theft auto and resisting law enforcement. He is being held without bond at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility until he is extradited to Camden County, Georgia, the press release said.
Wells has been charged with two felony counts of burglary of an occupied dwelling, grand theft auto and resisting law enforcement. She is being held on an $8,000 bond.
“It took us seven hours, but we got them,” Staly said in the press release. “Let this be a warning to fugitives and dirtbags that come into our county. We don’t give up until we get you.”
