PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. — Two teenage sweethearts suspected in a crime spree of stolen vehicles and pilfered checks across the South have been taken into custody in Florida, Kentucky authorities said Sunday.
Grayson County Sheriff officials said 18-year-old Dalton Hayes and his 13-year-old girlfriend, Cheyenne Phillips, were arrested without incident about 12:10 a.m. Sunday in Panama City Beach.
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The two had eluded police in multiple states while raising concerns about their increasingly bold behavior.
Authorities said U.S. Marshal’s Service and local law enforcement in Panama City Beach discovered Hayes and Phillips asleep in a 2001 Toyota Tundra that was stolen in Henry County, Georgia. The vehicle was surrounded by law enforcement and they were taken into custody.
Authorities plan to extradite them back to Kentucky, where they are expected to face felony charges.
According to Bay County jail records, Hayes was held Sunday on a charge of custodial interference. He likely will have a first court appearance Monday.
Hayes and Phillips began their run from the law and their families this month when they vanished from their small hometown in western Kentucky.
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