Suspects Caught in Rural Cass County After Theft, Pursuit in Jamestown

Two people were taken into custody without incident

CASS COUNTY, N.D. — A pursuit that spanned multiple counties and set off a Code Red alert ends with two people in custody.

Around 3 a.m., Jamestown Police responded to a theft at Walmart.

22–year old Dejon Johnson and 21–year old Tiffaney Simmons, both of Detroit, fled and drove east on I–94.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office took over once the two entered Cass County.

Police lost sight of the two suspects, who got stuck in a snowbank and abandoned the car near the intersection of 146th Avenue SE and 40th Street SE.

“By using some tracking devices we were able to locate that vehicle in Cass County, when we came across that vehicle of course it was unoccupied, that’s where we began our investigation,” Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner said.

A Code Red shelter-in-place was put out because it wasn’t clear if the suspects were dangerous. It is not clear if they had weapons.

“We wanted people to understand that number one, they’re going to see a lot of squad cars in the area, because we’re looking for these individuals, number two, we wanted to make sure everyone was safe,” Jahner said.

The two suspects were found in an abandoned farmstead at 14759 41st Street SE in Wheatland, and they were taken into custody without incident.

The home was about three miles from the abandoned car.

The Code Red was lifted around 11 a.m.

The Sheriff says tips from the public were helpful in finding where the suspects were.

“That activity led us to different areas we checked out and we were able to eliminate some of those addresses by some of the information and ultimately help us zero in on this particular area,” Jahner said.

Johnson and Simmons are being held at the Cass County Jail on charges of burglary and criminal mischief.

The case is still under investigation.

The Sheriff’s Office encourages people to sign up for the Code Red system so they can get emergency notifications.