Update 11:30 a.m. Friday
Stafford County officials this morning announced charges to the one man who was apparently injured during a breaking and entering in North Stafford on Thursday.
Mark Tyler Lewis, 19, is charged with breaking and entering, conspiracy to commit grand larceny and vandalism, said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.
Police arrested him at his home Thursday afternoon after a massive search involving a Virginia State Police helicopter, not one from Fairfax County as officials had earlier stated.
Lewis has been tied to a breaking and entering at a home on Flewellen Drive in the Park Ridge neighborhood.
He’s also been charged in another breaking and entering that occurred on the same street February 17.
Original Post
North Stafford, Va. –– Authorities called in the help of a police helicopter from Fairfax County to help find a 19-year-old man who allegedly broke into a home and eluded sheriff’s deputies on Thursday.
Sheriff’s deputies were called at 10:21 a.m. to a home on Flewellen Drive in the Park Ridge neighborhood in North Stafford after a neighbor called 911 and said she witnessed suspicious activity happening the neighborhood.
When deputies arrived, neighbors told them a house had been broken into and then pointed at two men neighbors say they saw break into the house, said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.
The deputies chased the two men and were able to apprehend one of them, but the other got away.
A search perimeter was set up and a helicopter was called in to search for the second man, who was eventually located at his home more than four hours later, said Kennedy.
The man who sheriff’s deputies say fled the scene suffered a minor injury presumably during the home break in, said Kennedy.
He was treated at a local hospital and is expected to be released.
His name is Mark Tyler Lewis, 19, of Knowlside Court in North Stafford, and will be formally charged when he is released from the hospital.
The second man, Joey Earl Wilkins, 19, of 125 Shenandoah Lane in North Stafford, is charged with breaking and entering, conspiracy to commit grand larceny, underage possession of alcohol, vandalism and with one count of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, said Kennedy.
Authorities say the suspects in this case were not armed, but officials did use electronic means of communication to alert residents to the search for the man.
Stafford’s E-911 system was not working at the time of the search, said Kennedy.
