A golf cart thief reportedly involved in several recent theft cases implicated his accomplice in a hot wire theft at Villages Golf Cars.
Joseph Ross, 26, of Webster, was spotted Tuesday in the Woodlane Meadows subdivision in Wildwood and after a short foot chase was apprehended by Wildwood police and a Sumter County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit.
Joshua Steven Mitchell, 21, had been arrested Monday morning after he was seen driving a white golf cart that was pulling a blue golf cart driven by another man near the railroad tracks in Wildwood. The man who had been in the blue golf cart fled on foot. During an interview with law enforcement, Mitchell identified Ross as the man who fled.
Following his arrest, Ross also provided damning evidence to law enforcement.
He said he and Mitchell have been stealing golf carts for several weeks and selling them to people in the area. Ross was questioned specifically about a silver Yamaha golf cart stolen from Villages Golf Cars at Brownwood. Ross said he and Mitchell had gone to the location to steal a golf cart. They selected one which had been secured by a steel cable. Mitchell cut the cable with a hatchet while Ross served as a lookout. Mitchell hot wired the golf car and they left with it.
Ross was arrested on felony charges of vehicle theft and criminal mischief. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $15,500 bond.
