(Spirit Lake)– An incident early Monday at the Spirit Lake Wal-Mart store landed two men in jail on a variety of charges.
Spirit Lake police say they were called to the store shortly after 2:00 a.m. after getting a report of a theft in progress. The suspect managed to get away before police got there. Wal-Mart employees were able to get a vehicle description and plate information, and police located the suspect vehicle a short time later traveling southbound on Highway 71 at 27th Street.
Upon investigating, officers determined the driver, 18-year-old Jaime Mejia-Chavez of Milford, was driving with a revoked license and was placed under arrest.
A passenger, 20-year-old William Tuel of Spirit Lake, was charged with public intoxication and theft in the fifth degree, in connection with the original complaint from Wal-Mart. Tuel is accused of stealing several compact discs and DVD’s from the store.
Both were taken to the Dickinson county jail, where a search of Mejia-Chavez resulted in authorities finding a green-leafy substance alleged to be marijuana.
In addition to the original charge of driving with a revoked license…a simple misdemeanor, Mejia-Chavez was also charged with possessing contraband…a class “D” felony.
