PARMA, Ohio — Four suspects believed to be a part of the recent break-ins at various Northeast Ohio dealerships are in police custody after a pursuit involving Parma police.
Those arrested are: 19-year-old Makilin Maurice Wilson; 19-year-old Kyer Chontez Allen; 19-year-old Dahmere Armand Lymon; and 22-year-old Miguel Antonio Hernandez.
At approximately 8:39 p.m. on Saturday, February 18, Parma police officers were conducting a "Traffic Oriented Patrol" aiming to target aggressive driving, drunk driving, speeding and other traffic violations throughout the city.
According to Parma police, an alert tipped officers off to a stolen Dodge Durango Hellcat that was suspected of involvement in the recent string of dealership thefts. The Dodge was traveling southbound near the 5400 block of State Road when it turned eastbound onto Lucerne Avenue.
At that point, Parma officers attempted to make a traffic stop. The suspect's vehicle fled from the attempt back onto State Road northbound. Stop sticks were used in an effort to disable the suspect's vehicle at State Road and Pershing Avenue. The pursuing officer car ended up being disabled because of a flat tire and was unable to continue following the suspect's vehicle.
The suspects continued onto I-480 East when other officer's joined the search. The vehicle was eventually found parked on the right shoulder of I-480 near exit 20B. When officers approached the car to investigate, three men exited the car on foot fleeing into a nearby wooded area.
One suspect was found in a heavily wooded ravine. He was taken into custody without incident. Officers searching the wooded area did not initially locate the other two men.
A short time later, a traffic stop was conducted near the area in Parma. Two of the men in the car were positively identified to be in the Dodge that fled police shortly before. The driver and the two occupants were taken into custody without incident.
The four suspects will be arraigned in Parma Municipal Court on Tuesday.
The recent dealership thefts involving high end vehicles have occurred in the following areas:
- Brunswick
- Mentor
- Carrol County
- Willoughby
- Solon
- Oakwood
- Geauga County
- Painesville Township
- Akron
- North Olmsted
- Strongsville
- Wickliffe
- Cleveland
- Geauga County
- Lake County
- Agencies in Michigan & Pennsylvania
According to the Parma Police Department, no additional information will be released as they work with other law enforcement agencies to investigate the suspect's involvement into the dealership thefts.