Jul 11, 2018 3 min read

A Florida man was arrested Tuesday and two others charged after Cecil Township police found stolen items in a crashed vehicle outside Lawrence earlier this month.

Rishard O’Neill Carter, 19, of Fort Lauderdale, was arraigned before District Judge Traci McDonald on 11 counts of receiving stolen property and one count each of having stolen or altered plates.

Police also obtained an arrest warrant for the driver of the vehicle, Tavaris Deon Mills, 30, also of Fort Lauderdale, on 10 counts of receiving stolen property, six counts of reckless endangerment, one count each of fleeing or attempting to elude police and resisting arrest as well as traffic violations.

Nina Demi Trapolsi, 26, of Pittsburgh, who was also in the vehicle, is being charged by summons with 10 counts of receiving stolen property and one count each of resisting arrest and false identification to police. Police are trying to identify another man who fled from the vehicle.

Police were on patrol July 2 when the officer noticed an SUV in the Hendersonville area of the township. He later saw the vehicle leave the area and noticed its heavily tinted windows. When the officer attempted to stop the vehicle on Georgetown Road, it fled, passing other vehicles at about 60 mph. The officer terminated the pursuit because of the speed and the traffic in the village of Lawrence.

The officer continued on Georgetown when a witness told him he was almost hit head-on by an SUV that then crashed over a hillside near Church Street.

Mills fled from the vehicle, but fell and was taken into custody. Trapolsi was seen running out of the same wooded area. Carter was trapped in the vehicle and had to be freed from the wreckage. All three were taken to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment. The SUV’s fourth occupant ran into the woods.

Police said Mills denied being the driver, claiming it was the man who fled. Pittsburgh police took custody of him at the hospital on an outstanding warrant for a probation violation.

Found inside the vehicle were numerous identification cards from Pennsylvania and New York. Police later linked the vehicle to smash-and-grab crimes in Sewickley, Allegheny County, and Marion Township, Beaver County. The license plate on the rental vehicle also was reported stolen in Sewickley.

Carter was placed in Washington County jail on $25,000 bond. Both he and Trapolsi are scheduled for an Aug. 2 preliminary hearing before McDonald. Mills will be arraigned at a later date.