THREE STOLEN VEHICLES RECOVERED, FIVE ARRESTED IN JUST OVER 24 HOURS IN WALTON COUNTY
At approximately 10:00 a.m. on Monday, September 16th, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office received a FLOCK alert regarding a stolen vehicle on Highway 90 in Mossy Head.
Deputies were notified of a dark blue Jeep Cherokee stolen out of Indiana, promptly located the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop near Oakridge Way.
The driver, Caden Elias Layne, 20, from Anderson, Indiana, claimed he had purchased the vehicle from someone at a casino and was told there was a two-week hold on the title. He also stated he did not know the owner of the vehicle.
Contact was made with the reporting jurisdiction which confirmed the vehicle to be stolen.
The passenger, Jordan Lee Vega, 16, was reported as a runaway from Noblesville, Indiana.
Both Layne and Vega were arrested on multiple charges including grand theft.
At 11:54 a.m. that same morning, Walton County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted a traffic stop in Freeport on a vehicle with no license plate. During the stop, deputies learned the driver was not the registered owner of the vehicle. Contact was made with the vehicle’s owner who confirmed the vehicle was stolen.
The driver of the vehicle, Jody Leigh Tullis, 28, of Ponce de Leon advised deputies he made a trade with a subject named Dustin Wooten.
Deputies made contact with Dustin Kenneth Wooten, 26, of DeFuniak Springs who admitted Tullis drove him to the victim’s residence and took the truck. Wooten and Tullis then traded vehicles.
Tullis and Wooten were both charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property among other charges.
The next morning around 11:00 a.m., the Walton County Sheriff’s Office received another FLOCK hit on a gray GMC Sierra reported stolen out of Okaloosa County. The vehicle was located at Love’s Travel Stop in Mossy Head, and deputies conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle.
The driver, Herbert Eugene Rogers, 36, from Pensacola stated the vehicle was loaned to him. However, deputies made contact with the victim and the reporting jurisdiction who confirmed the vehicle to be stolen.
Rogers was transported and booked into the Walton County Jail on charges of grand theft and obstruction without violence.