Runaway girls to face charges only in Montgomery County

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Four teenage girls who allegedly stole a van in Greencastle early Sunday and were captured about an hour later after nearly running down a police officer, will not see a Putnam County courtroom.

None of the four girls, ranging in age from 13-17, was a Putnam County commitment to the ResCare Residential Program, a Putnam County Prosecutor's Office spokesman said.

Charges in the case, which have not been finalized as the incident remained under police investigation Wednesday, will all go through Montgomery County courts, including any offenses that occurred in Putnam County.

"With juvenile cases, we can ship them all to the same county, including what happened here," Chief Deputy Putnam County Prosecutor Justin Long explained Wednesday.

Regardless, he reminded, it will be closed case as long as it remains in juvenile court.

The incident reportedly began at the ResCare facility, 1300 Bloomington St., Greencastle, just before 1 a.m. Sunday when the young women reportedly stole a 2002 Ford van owned by the facility after allegedly assaulting a female staff member.

According to a Greencastle Police Department press release, the four female suspects removed phones from the residence along with taking the female staff member's cell phone to prevent any 911 phone calls to report the incident.

One of the four juveniles also reportedly threatened the female staffer, police said, telling her that if she told anyone what happened, she would suffer physical harm.

The GPD press release indicated authorities will review preliminary charges, including battery, intimidation, interfering with the reporting of a crime, theft and auto theft.

The girls, none of whom reportedly possessesa valid driver's license, fled north on U.S. 231, traveling into Montgomery County before the maroon van was spotted by a Crawfordsville police officer.

Sgt. Geoff Payne located the stolen van in the parking lot of the Sears Appliance Store along U.S. 231 at the south end of Crawfordsville about 1:20 a.m. Sunday.

As he approached the van and ordered the girls out of the vehicle, the driver reportedly put the van in reverse and rammed Payne's squad car, heavily damaging the car, and attempting to run down the officer who fired his handgun at the fleeing vehicle.

Payne pursued the van in his damaged police vehicle, entering the Walmart parking lot west of U.S. 231, where the four girls abandoned the van and fled on foot.

Payne and fellow CPD and Montgomery County officers quickly apprehended the female runaways, subduing one immediately and capturing the three others without further incident in a nearby ditch.

Investigating the Greencastle portion of the incident were GPD Officer Eric Vaughan, Chief Tom Sutherlin and Putnam County Deputy Matt Biggs.