Man sentenced to prison for attempted Rolls Royce theft in Streetsboro, high-speed chase
A Cleveland man was sentenced to up to six years in prison on Monday for the attempted theft of a Rolls-Royce from a Streetsboro auto dealership in August, followed by a high-speed pursuit in a stolen vehicle, during which an Ohio State Highway patrol cruiser was struck.
According to Portage County Court of Common Pleas records, Judge Laurie J. Pittman sentenced Traveonn D. Calhoun, 21, to four to six years in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $5,700 in restitution to the highway patrol and $2,000 to Haasz Automall in Ravenna within 10 years.
Streetsboro police said officers responded to the Volkswagen dealership on Classic Drive after an alarm went off at about 12:50 a.m. on Aug. 17. They discovered someone had crashed a Jeep, later determined to have been reported stolen from Haasz Automall, through a bay door. Police said the officers then saw a male inside apparently trying to take a Rolls-Royce. Officers tried to detain the male at gunpoint, but he ran, got into the Jeep and fled.
Portage County sheriff and highway patrol units then pursued the Jeep and eventually caught it and arrested the driver, who police identified as Calhoun.
According to complaints the sheriff’s office filed in court, the pursuit lasted 18 miles at speeds exceeding 100 mph south on Route 14 to Lake Rockwell Road before eventually heading north again, ending on Route 303 back in Streetsboro. Calhoun used the Jeep to “purposely” strike a highway patrol trooper’s cruiser “several times” during the pursuit, according to a complaint.
More: Man pleads guilty in attempted Streetsboro Rolls Royce theft, police chase; sentencing pending
Calhoun pleaded guilty in late September to second-degree felony assault; failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer and burglary, both third-degree felonies; and fourth-degree felony grand theft.
According to court records, the assault charge was amended down from first-degree felony assault as part of a plea deal. Also as part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed not to prosecute Calhoun on additional charges in a grand jury indictment and a supplemental indictment, including third-degree felony harassment with a bodily substance, two counts of receiving stolen property and a second grand theft charge, all fourth-degree felonies, and identity fraud, breaking and entering and two counts of vandalism, all fifth-degree felonies.
The harassment with bodily fluids charge was in connection with an allegation that Calhoun spit in a corrections officer’s face at Portage County Jail on Aug. 31. The identity fraud charge stemmed from an allegation that Calhoun used another male’s personal information to falsely identify himself when he was arrested.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Man sentenced for attempted Rolls Royce theft, high-speed chase
