Police

Cops: Riverhead man caught in stolen vehicle, fled police

(Credit: File photo)
(Credit: File photo)

A Riverhead man driving a stolen Jeep led cops on a wrong-way chase down Sunrise Highway in Patchogue early Wednesday morning before he was caught by a K9 team in a Bohemia house after ditching the vehicle, Suffolk County police said.

The 39-year-old man — who has a history of prior arrests for burglary, robbery and resisting arrest — is now facing a slew of new charges, including possession of stolen property, fleeing police, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment.

County officer Jason Keenan spotted a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee which had been reported stolen from Yaphank on April 15 driving on Main Street in Patchogue just after 1 a.m., police said.

When the officer tried to pull over the Jeep, the driver — identified by police as Robert Noon III — fled and entered the westbound Sunrise Highway at Route 112 going the wrong way, according to the statement.

Shortly after he got on Sunrise Highway, Mr. Noon allegedly made a U-turn and traveled westbound in the eastbound lanes, police said. Due to safety concerns, the officers pursuing Mr. Noon backed off the chase.

Mr. Noon then abandoned the vehicle in Bohemia and took off on foot. Cops later found the vehicle and a K9 team tracked Noon to a house on 13th St. in Bohemia, police said.

Mr. Noon was arrested and charged with criminal possession of stolen property, a felony, unlawfully fleeing a police officer, aggravated unlicensed driving, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest. He is due to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip Thursday.

County police detectives are continuing the investigation.

Mr. Noon has had several brush-ins with law enforcement recently, including a grand larceny arrest in 2012, and burglary, robbery, petit larceny and possession of stolen property charges for a string of crimes in Flanders and Riverside, including the Dec. 28 robbery of a victim who was forced down on a bed and robbed, according to previous news reports.

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