Man Sentenced to 10 Months After Flock Alert Led to His Arrest, Guilty Pleas for Eluding Police in Vehicle Reported Stolen Earlier That Day
NORFOLK, Va. — Zykier Talib Urquhart, 21, was sentenced on Thursday to serve 10 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to one felony and two misdemeanors from an incident earlier this year in which he eluded police in a vehicle that had been reported stolen earlier that day, prompting police to use the Flock system to later locate the vehicle.
On the morning of June 16, Norfolk Police officers patrolling Tidewater Drive saw a white Jeep with temporary tags that abruptly started merging across several lanes of traffic. The officers ran the tags, saw they were actually registered to a different vehicle, and decided to pull the vehicle over. Mr. Urquhart, who was driving the Jeep, turned onto Virginia Beach Boulevard and began to speed up — reaching 70 mph in a 30-mph zone and almost hitting another car — when the officers activated their car lights and siren. Due to heavy traffic in the area, the officers decided not to pursue the Jeep, took note of Mr. Urquhart’s appearance, and put the Jeep information into the Flock license plate recognition system.
The Jeep was later seen by a Flock camera in the Norview area near Alexander Street. The officers located the Jeep parked on Wellington Court as well as Mr. Urquhart, who had been standing nearby. Mr. Urquhart took off running when the officers told him he was under arrest, but he was detained shortly thereafter. The officers found the keys to the Jeep when they searched Mr. Urquhart, ran the vehicle identification number of the Jeep, and found the Jeep to have been reported stolen out of Virginia Beach earlier that same day.
Mr. Urquhart entered an agreement on Thursday to plead guilty as charged to felony receipt of stolen goods as well as misdemeanor eluding and fleeing from law enforcement and be sentenced to serve 10 months in jail, with another two years and two months in custody suspended on the conditions that he complete three years of uniform good behavior, one year of supervised probation, and be prohibited from driving for one year after his release. Judge Mary Jane Hall accepted Mr. Urquhart’s guilty pleas and sentenced Mr. Urquhart per the agreement.
“Once again, smart police work and the benefits of the Flock system have led to the arrest of someone doing wrong and the recovery, within less than a single day, of the victim’s car,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “We will continue the responsible use of technology to protect the civil rights of law-abiding people while holding accountable the people who commit crimes and endanger others.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Adam L. LaFon prosecuted Mr. Urquhart’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Detective Arturo F. Garcia led the investigation.
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