Car thief released from jail here Dec. 4, stole SUV and led BCSO in pursuit the next day

Vincent Walrath, 31, of Grandview, Missouri, continues to rack up charges in multiple jurisdictions. 

Walrath was charged in Ozark County last month when a Gainesville convenience store worker saw him steal a Monster Energy drink and called the sheriff’s department. Lt. Matt Rhoades responded and found him parked at the store with the stolen drink in the passenger’s seat. When he ran the vehicle through the law enforcement program, it came back as stolen from Jackson County, Missouri. 

He was arrested and charged here with tampering with a motor vehicle and misdemeanor stealing. 

He was held in Ozark County Jail from Nov. 25 to Dec. 4, when Associate Judge Raymond Gross released him on his own recognizance. 

The next day, around 3:15 p.m., the Baxter County (Arkansas) Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a vehicle, a 2016 Chevy Trax, being stolen from Baxter County Road 69. The vehicle had been left running in the driveway while the owner had briefly stepped out. A male wearing all black was reported to jump into the vehicle and drive off. The reported information was broadcast over the radio to all Baxter county sheriff’s deputies. 

At approximately 3:30 p.m., BCSO Deputy Austin Morrison spotted the vehicle going eastbound on the Highway 62/412 bypass in Mountain Home.  

Morrison turned around to follow the stolen vehicle and began accelerating to catch up with it. The driver of the stolen vehicle took the Highway 5 south exit ramp, with Morrison following. Morrison attempted to make a traffic stop on the vehicle, but the driver refused to stop and continued southbound on Highway 5. The driver turned into the back side of the soccer complex at Amons Lake and approached a rock barricade. He then drove into the ditch to attempt to drive between two large boulders, and he partially high-centered. 

Morrison exited his patrol car and began giving commands to the driver, who ignored them. The driver put the vehicle in reverse and backed-up, forcing the deputy to jump out of the way to keep from being hit. The driver then moved forward again, crashing into a boulder and moving it just enough to allow him to get through. The driver came back out to Highway 5 and turned north, heading back toward Mountain Home.  Morrison renewed the pursuit but lost sight of the vehicle. 

When the driver came back to the Highway 62/412 bypass, he took the ramp to go eastbound. At that time, units with the Arkansas State Police found the vehicle and pursued it eastbound. A short time later, after an Arkansas State Trooper performed a “pit maneuver,” the man wrecked the vehicle in the area of The Home Depot store. The vehicle overturned, and Walrath was detained at the scene. He was transported to Baxter Health Hospital in Mountain Home for treatment of injuries, and he was later brought to the Baxter County Detention Center for booking on felony charges of theft of property, criminal mischief, aggravated assault on an officer and fleeing by vehicle. He’s charged as a habitual offender, meaning he will face harsher punishment if convicted.  

Walrath has a bond of $25,000 in Baxter County. The Arkansas State Police is also filing separate charges related to their involvement in this incident. He was scheduled to appear in court there Dec. 16.