LEESBURG, Va. (WRIC) — Two shoplifting suspects were arrested after allegedly leading police on a chase using a stolen U-Haul van, which they crashed.
According to a release from the Town of Leesburg, at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, police were notified about a shoplifting incident which took place at the Tractor Supply Company on Edwards Ferry Road NE. The two suspects left the area in a U-Haul van with Arizona tags.
Officers began to canvas the area and found the van in the parking lot of a Lowe’s on the 1300 block of Russell Branch Parkway SE. The suspects fled the parking lot in the van at a high rate of speed and refused to stop for the officers.
While trying to escape, the driver of the van crashed it in a grassy area near the intersection of Leesburg Bypass and Fort Evans Road NE. The two suspects then got out and began running, but were caught by police nearby.
The suspects, identified as 35-year-old Brendan Brown and 22-year-old Jenna Wilber, were found to have what is believed to have been methamphetamine and buprenorphine, as well as drug paraphernalia.
Police determined that the van had been stolen in Maryland and that the suspects had shoplifted from the Lowe’s as well as the Tractor Supply Co. — and had been involved in several other theft incidents across Virginia and West Virginia.
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Brown has been charged with two counts of shoplifting, one court of eliding and one count of possession of a stolen vehicle. Wilber has been charged with two counts of shoplifting, one count of reckless driving, one count of eluding, one count of possession of a stolen vehicle, one count of possession of a schedule II substance and one count of possession of a schedule III substance.
Brown and Wilber are being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center without bond.
