BROOKSVILLE, Fla. – On Saturday 02-06-2021 at 1:15 a.m., Hernando County 911 dispatchers received a report of a single-vehicle crash in the area of Powell Road and Saturn Road in Brooksville.
An off-duty Pasco Sheriff’s deputy reported locating a vehicle parked on the roadside with front-end damage.
The off-duty deputy activated his overhead emergency lights and observed as three individuals fled on foot from the scene and into a wooded area.
Hernando County Sheriff’s deputies soon arrived on the scene to begin searching for the suspects.
The HCSO aviation and K-9 units responded to search for the suspects.
With the assistance of the aviation unit, two of the subjects were found hiding in separate wooded lots. The subjects were immediately detained.
Both subjects identified the driver of the stolen vehicle as Port Richey resident 21-year-old Vaughn McClellan Jr.
The subjects advised McClellan had picked them up earlier in the night.
The owner of the vehicle, who lives in Pasco County, advised her ex-boyfriend, McClellan, did not have permission to drive her vehicle. She advised she had only recently noticed her vehicle was missing. The victim proceeded to sign a stolen vehicle affidavit.
A short time later McClellan called the Sheriff’s Office using his cell phone to surrender. McClellan was located waiting outside of a residence on Crum Road.
McClellan was charged with Grand Theft Auto and Resisting an Officer without Violence.
The Florida Highway Patrol cited McClellan for Reckless Driving, Driving without a License, and Leaving the Scene of an Accident.
McClellan was transported to the Hernando County Detention Center where he was being held in lieu of a $3,000 bond.
Neither of the other two subjects were charged in the incident.