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Shopping cart joy ride ends with arrest

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By HERNANDO TODAY STAFF

Published: April 30, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - A midnight joy ride on an electric shopping cart ended in felony charges on Wednesday.

A deputy found the suspect, Jeremiah Reardon, around 1 a.m. tooling down Mariner Boulevard in a Wal-Mart cart, about a quarter-mile south of Cortez Boulevard. He was trailed by two store managers yelling at him to stop.

As the deputy approached, he noticed Reardon, 27, was using a small flashlight to flag down passing vehicles. He later told the deputy he was riding the cart home because he had a broken left leg and there was no one to give him a ride, a report states.

The low-speed pursuit began when a Wal-Mart greeter notified management that someone had driven out of the store on the cart. Two managers, who were adamant they did not give Reardon permission to leave the store with the cart, took off after him.

The cart's estimated value is $2,500, so Reardon was charged with grand theft. A search of his pockets reportedly turned up 12 methadone tablets, so he was additionally charged with possession of a controlled substance. Both charges violated his probation.

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