Authorities in Liberty County apprehended a suspect being sought by Jefferson County law enforcement for the unauthorized use of a vehicle on Wednesday. The suspect, 34-year-old Marty Ray Jarrett, Jr., reportedly led law enforcement on a chase through Raywood and Devers before he was finally arrested in Ames.
At around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday a radio broadcast from the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office alerted peace officers to be on the lookout for a 1990s’s model White Chevrolet 1500 single-cab pickup truck that had been reported as stolen out of Jefferson County.
Pct. 2 Deputy Constable George Daniel was working along US 90 near Devers and saw the vehicle go past him. He reportedly attempted to stop the vehicle, but it continued, veering off US 90 onto FM 1909 and then onto FM 160 where it traveled northbound toward Raywood, authorities said. Deputy Constable John Tucker joined in the pursuit as the driver reportedly drove into a field, driving back and forth across the pasture, finally sliding into a tree.
“The driver jumped out of the vehicle and ran,” a source at the Pct. 2 Constable’s Office said. “He ran southbound across the train tracks into some hayfields and wooded areas – an overgrown pasture really.”
Not long afterward, a storm passed through the area, hampering the search, which at that point had been joined by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.
Due to the weather, the search was suspended. Later on that afternoon, a sheriff’s deputy found the suspect walking along Old Beaumont Ave. in Ames, authorities said. He was arrested on a charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance and is being held in the Liberty County Jail on a $30,000 bond.
The Pct. 2 Constable’s Office will pursue an additional charge of Evading Arrest with the Liberty County District Attorney’s Office while Jefferson County will pursue a charge for the stolen vehicle, the source said.
By Vanesa Brashier, editor@bluebonnetnews.com