Teenage Bonnie and Clyde Arrested in Florida
18-year-old Dalton Hayes and his 13-year-old girlfriend were arrested on Sunday, marking the end of their multi-state crime spree.
Dalton Hayes, who took off from his Kentucky home with a 13-year-old girl approximately two weeks ago, said that he agreed to go back to Kentucky and face charges there. As his mother Tammi Martin puts it, according toFox News, he will "face the consequences" of his actions.
Hayes's accomplice, the 13-year-old girl will be charged at a juvenile court.
The couple was arrested while they were sleeping in a pickup truck they had stolen earlier in Panama City, Florida.
According to the Sheriff Norman Chaffins of Grayson County, KY, the two teens will be facing several charges including burglary, theft, criminal trespassing and criminal mischief. In addition to those charges, Hayes could also face charges due to the nature of his relationship with the 13-year-old, who is not old enough to consent to sex in any of the states the pair have been to during their escape.
Hayes's mother said that the couple had been dating for three months and that the girl had pretended to be older. Martin stated that she believed the girl simply because she always had cigarettes with her and would even sometimes write checks, behaviors that are not associated underage teens. She said that by the time her son realized she was not of age she portrayed herself to be, "he was already done in love with her."
Fox reported Chaffins said he was relieved that the arrest of the pair was uneventful because the pair was found asleep. Numerous police officers surrounded them, which did not give them a chance to run again.
The pair's behavior on the run had become "increasingly brazen and dangerous," according to Chaffins, which could easily generate a situation that might not lead to a peaceful ending like this one.