Three people are in jail and deputies are looking for another after a woman reported her car stolen.
The missing man, according to sheriff’s reports, is her son.
Santa Rosa Sheriff’s officials say charges are pending against Jason Thomas Hildebrant, who remains at large. He is wanted after taking his mother’s car Thursday.
Friday afternoon near Panhandle Trail and Timber Lane, Navarre, Deputy Ryan Counts says he was on patrol when he saw a car matching the description of a stolen vehicle reported in his district. He says followed the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop at which time the driver, later identified as Hildebrant, took an evasive path behind a house, tearing up the grass, and then drove back out front and straight across the street.
Counts says as the car, a 1999 red Dodge Avenger, approached a fence, it stopped suddenly and Hildebrant bailed from the driver’s seat. Deputies drew their guns on the three remaining occupants and detained them.
During an interview, one of the men told Counts he knew the vehicle had been reported stolen, according to the report, and had discussed it with Hildebrant.
The man, Michael Dakota Austin, 23, had spoken with Counts and Deputy Kevin Horn the day before, according to the report, while they were trying to locate the vehicle. During that conversation Counts notes, Austin was made aware by deputies that the car had been reported stolen.
Austin says he was told by Hildebrant that his mom was going to drop the charges, but it became apparent that was a lie when deputies attempted to stop the car.
In a separate report, Hildebrant’s mother told sheriff’s officials her car was taken after an argument with her son. She filed an affidavit saying he took the car in front of her, without permission and nearly hit her as he fled. There were two witnesses to this incident, according to the report.
Deputies say three men who were in the Dodge with Hildebrant were arrested.
Anthony Ray Barnes, 20, homeless; Michael Dakota Austin, 23, Mary Esther; and Shawn Michael Douglas, 37, Navarre were charged with vehicle theft. Austin and Barnes have been released from jail; Douglas was also charged with probation violation and remains in jail on no bond, according to jail records.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Cops: Son flees in mom’s stolen car; 3 charged