By Ray King
Two Pine Bluff teenagers were arrested Friday after they fled from a vehicle that had been reported stolen.
Derrick Stidham, 19, and Markell Preston, 19, were taken into custody after the vehicle struck a culvert and went into a ditch while being chased by police.
During a court hearing Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Brittaney Akel said at 11 a.m., Detective Richard McCorvy received information about a truck that had been stolen and was reported in the possession of Stidham. She said McCorvy started looking for the truck and saw it parked in a yard on East 7th Ave.
Reading from an affidavit by Detective Sgt. Keith Banks, Akel told the court what happened next.
Akel said Preston has no prior convictions or pending charges while Stidham has an open case in Jefferson County for discharging a firearm from a vehicle and terroristic threatening and in Grant County for theft by receiving, fleeing, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident where injuries occurred.
Because of the open cases, Jefferson County District Judge Kim Bridgforth set a $150,000 cash only bond for Stidham after ruling prosecutors have probable cause to charge him with fleeing and theft by receiving. A $15,000 secured bond was set for Preston of theft by receiving and both were told to come back to court May 17.
