June 21, 2011
Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

DUO ARRESTED AFTER FLEEING FROM REPORTED PURSE-SNATCHING 

When everything was unraveled, what initially sounded like a purse-snatching caper in Deltona Monday afternoon instead turned out to be something that law enforcement officers are seeing with increasing regularity -- a drug deal gone bad. In the wake of Monday’s fast-paced episode, two fleeing suspects nabbed by Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies are facing a slew of criminal charges in an investigation that is still ongoing. 

Deputies were initially dispatched to a purse-snatching in a parking lot along Providence Boulevard after a bystander called the Sheriff’s Office at 3:56 p.m. to report that two women were struggling with a couple of men over a purse. However, things quickly went awry for the suspects -- 24-year-old Stanley Leopold and 30-year-old Jermaine Littles. Responding deputies quickly located their 2002 red Pontiac on Saxon Boulevard heading towards I-4. Deputies pulled over the vehicle on the interstate, and it initially stopped. However, the suspects then bolted from deputies and sped off in the middle of the traffic stop. Patrol units eventually flattened one of the car’s tires with stop sticks, and the suspects abandoned their vehicle on North Goodrich Avenue and ran through several yards in the neighborhood. At that point, the suspects split up. Littles fled into the woods, while Leopold ran to a house about a quarter-mile away on Dustin Terrace, walked through the garage and into the kitchen and proceeded to tell a woman there a sob story about being tired and thirsty and needing a ride. The woman, who was home with her husband and children, told the intruder that she couldn’t give him a ride. However, she did offer him a drink. But instead, Leopold swiped the woman’s car keys and drove off in her 2003 Honda SUV. He didn’t get far, though. Deputies saw Leopold back out of the driveway in the stolen SUV and followed him to where he abandoned the vehicle, with the engine still running, at the intersection of South Atmore Circle and West Atmore Circle. From there, Leopold ran into his own house, nearby on Sullivan Street, with deputies in pursuit. 

By 4:47 p.m., deputies had both suspects rounded up. Littles was captured first when a Sheriff’s K-9 put the bite on the suspect after tracking him in some thick woods. A few minutes later, deputies -- who had surrounded the house on Sullivan Street -- made entry and took Leopold into custody. Deputies, who are still investigating the caper, later learned that the two women initially drove Leopold to the location on Providence Boulevard with the intention of buying drugs. However, Leopold apparently had another plan -- to rob the women. While a struggle ensued over a pocketbook, Littles drove up in the red Pontiac. The pocketbook eventually broke apart during the struggle and its contents spilled out. It’s unclear whether anything was taken. The suspects then fled the scene in Littles’ car. 

After sorting out the circumstances, Sheriff’s investigators charged Leopold with robbery by sudden snatching, burglary, grand theft, fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, reckless driving and resisting arrest without violence. He was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on $10,500 bond. Littles, who lives in Sanford, was charged with robbery by sudden snatching, fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, reckless driving and resisting arrest without violence. He was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on $6,000 bond.