News Digest

Snooze and lose: Teenage couple on U.S. crime spree caught sleeping on the job

Two teenage sweethearts suspected in a crime spree of stolen vehicles and pilfered cheques across America’s South have been taken into custody in Florida, Kentucky. Police officials said in a statement that 18-year-old Dalton Hayes and his 13-year-old girlfriend, Cheyenne Phillips, were arrested without incident just after midnight in Panama City Beach. They were found sleeping in a car they had allegedly stolen.

We think it’s important for them to get back home, because they’re starting to bite off a little more than they can chew.

Norman Chaffins, sheriff of Grayson County, speaking shortly before their arrest

Hayes and Phillips, who have been dating for three months, began their run from the law and their families earlier this month when they vanished from their small hometown in western Kentucky. Their travels took them through three states. Authorities plan to extradite Hayes and Phillips back to Kentucky where they are expected to face felony charges. Hayes faces burglary and theft charges in his home county, stemming from an arrest late last year, according to Grayson County court records.