Police are crediting Facebook with helping them nab a suspect in a rash of vehicle break-ins on the Eastern Shore yesterday, following a chase that literally took officers over the river and through the woods.
The Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Office charged Jason Andrew Grimes, 32, with resisting arrest and failure to obey law enforcement. Deputies are investigating whether Grimes has any ties to the vehicle break-ins. Authorities detained Grimes after a foot chase across Route 50, behind two locked-down Kent Island schools and through Thompson Creek.
He is behind held on $20,000 bond, electronic court records show.
The arrest came a week after a string of vehicle break-ins from Kent Island to the Delaware line prompted authorities to post an alert on the department's Facebook page. Residents responded with a flurry of tips.
A Bay City resident set up a deer camera that caught footage of a man breaking into vehicles.
That video was posted to the Sheriff's Office's Facebook page Monday morning, with a message from Sheriff Gary Hofmann: "He better turn himself in our lobby asap, cause, the heat is on and we're going to catch you."
The video had 24 likes, 24 shares and 21 comments.
Deputies who viewed the video thought the suspect closely resembled Grimes, who had been spotted in the Chester and Stevensville areas, said Dale Patrick, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.
Grimes was wanted on a warrant for violating probation in a fourth-degree burglary case in Talbot County. Wanting to question Grimes about the break-ins, deputies posted a Queen Anne's County Most Wanted release on the sheriff's Facebook page.
The release had 68 comments and 42 shares.
Viewers quickly pointed out that Grimes resembled the man in the previously posted video.
"Is this the suspect from the Bay City case???" one person posted.
"He needs to be caught! It looks like him!" another person wrote.
The hunt was on.
"Everyone watches CSI, they want to be the detective," Patrick said. "The community really got into it."
Before long, tips were pouring in.
"There was just no way he was going to be able to stay in the area and not be seen," Patrick said.
Around noon yesterday, just more than 24 hours after the video was posted, deputies were tipped off that Grimes was spotted near Thompson Creek and Marion Quimby Drive on Kent Island.
The news was relayed by deputies on the sheriff's Facebook page.
"Subject bailed from vehicle and ran," it said, describing Grimes as wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and black hat.
The post prompted more tips.
"We received some more calls that he was further down Thompson Creek," Patrick said.
State, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Maryland Transportation Authority police, as well as Caroline County officers, fanned out, boxing Grimes in, Patrick said.
Kent Island volunteer firefighters took their boat onto Thompson Creek. That came in handy, as Patrick said Grimes jumped into the creek at one point in the chase.
"He was drenched," he said.
So were police. In pouring rain, they chased Grimes past the Shore Stop gas station on Route 8 - after getting yet another tip from a resident - and across a field.
Matapeake elementary and middle schools were locked down, Patrick said. He said Grimes ran behind the schools and across Mowbray Park.
Police and deputies finally caught up with Grimes near a home on Davidson Lane in Stevensville.
It wasn't long before 14 photographs of the chase and arrest were posted on Facebook, along with a message that Grimes had been arrested.
"Now let's see why he ran," the post said.
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