Sheriff Nocco Nabs Auto Theft Suspect

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco doesn’t believe in spending his days sitting behind a desk.

Proving that point, Nocco swung into high gear Thursday when an auto theft suspect who had led deputies on a high-speed chase through Land O’ Lakes happened to drive by his location. Rather than sit back and watch, Nocco took action. With the help of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and another deputy, the man was brought into custody.

The incident began to unfold around 11:45 a.m. Thursday when a Pasco deputy happened to run a tag on a vehicle in the Land O’ Lakes area. That vehicle, the sheriff’s office said in an email to media, came back as having been stolen out of Hernando County.

The deputy attempted a traffic stop on the car, but its driver was having none of it. The man fled north on U.S. 41 at 100 mph, the sheriff’s office wrote.

Due to the high speeds, the pursuit was called off.

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As the chase unfolded, Nocco happened to be listening in from the area near the Land O’ Lakes Jail of U.S. 41. He spotted the suspect car as it drove by him and so did a trooper, who made a U-turn to follow the car.

With the trooper on his tail, the driver of the stolen car began to flee once more at a high rate of speed, the sheriff’s office said.

As the trooper followed the stolen vehicle, Hernando County Sheriff’s deputies were setting up stop sticks on U.S. 41 near County Line Road. The motorist, however, turned west on Bowman road instead.

“It was at this point that the Sheriff became involved in the pursuit,’ the email said. “The stolen vehicle travelled down Bowman, across the overpass of the Suncoast Parkway and stopped in a wooded area of Shady Hills.”

Nocco, one of his deputies and the trooper approached the car, drew their weapons and ordered the man out of the car. They brought him into custody without further incident.

The man’s identity and a list of charges against him is not yet available.

Photo of Sheriff Chis Nocco courtesy of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office