Couple accused of 3-state crime spree charged as adults in Pa.

COLUMBUS (AP) — A teen couple accused in a three-state, six-day crime spree that authorities say ended because the pair could not swim across the wide Ohio River have been charged in Pennsylvania as adults, authorities said Wednesday.

Sixteen-year-old Triston Kindle, of Upper Sandusky, and 15-year-old Rose May, of Sycamore, were charged in Pennsylvania with felony counts of aggravated assault and robbery. May also is charged with felony counts of criminal conspiracy, receiving stolen property and fleeing or trying to elude a police officer.

The teens’ soggy capture Saturday in West Virginia followed a string of crimes that authorities said involved at least two stolen vehicles, the theft of ammunition from an Ohio Wal-Mart, an armed robbery and injuries to a Pennsylvania police officer.

The police officer in Elizabeth Township had responded to a robbery call at a minimart when he spotted the couple and tried to grab the door handle of the truck they were in, authorities said. The driver hit the gas, dragging the officer along onto Route 48, authorities said.

Police in West Virginia later caught up with the duo in a stolen vehicle after a 12-mile chase ended in Sistersville, authorities said. Police said May was armed with a handgun as the teens fled on foot. They eventually jumped into the Ohio River before realizing how wide it was and swam back, police said.

The teens remained in a juvenile detention facility in West Virginia on Wednesday, said Sgt. Brian Collins with the West Virginia State Police. They have been held without bond there since Sunday on charges of possessing stolen property and fleeing in a vehicle from police resulting in property damage.

Mike Manko, with the Allegheny County district attorney’s office in Pennsylvania, said the teens were being charged as adults in the state because of the seriousness of the allegations, the fact that weapons were involved and the injuries suffered by a police officer. He said there is not yet a timetable for extraditing the two to Pennsylvania.

Ohio officials say they are reviewing the case to determine if and what charges should be filed.

Attempts to reach possible relatives of Kindle and May by phone Wednesday were unsuccessful. It was not immediately clear if the teens have attorneys to comment on the charges against them.

By JENNIFER SMOLA
Associated Press