ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A high-speed pursuit Wednesday ended with two men from the Cleveland area in jail.

At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Belmont County 911 received a call from Rural King at the Ohio Valley Mall saying that two individuals entered a vehicle after allegedly stealing more than $3,000 worth of tools from the store.

Dispatch forwarded the information to the St. Clairsville Police Department and the Ohio State Highway Patrol. St. Clairsville police located the car and followed it on a pursuit on Interstate 70 west. The suspect vehicle allegedly reached speeds surpassing 100 mph before it got off the interstate at exit 213 and headed south on Airport Road.

According to Belmont County Sheriff Dave Lucas, the car turned off of Airport Road to the left to travel up Mills Road, and then came back out to get on U.S. 40, again going west.

“During these times other units were trying to get in position for spikes,” Lucas said during a news conference held Thursday.

Lucas said the car proceeded to avoid the spikes on the road as it returned to Interstate 70 west. Lucas said the vehicle almost struck a police cruiser, causing the suspect driver to lose control around the 211 mile marker post.

“They both jumped out after their accident and officers pursued them, and shortly down the road one of the suspects was found and recovered by State Highway Patrol,” Lucas said. “So he was taken into custody without incident, but the other person was still on foot.”

Lucas said that working with Belmont County 911, law enforcement released a reverse 911 message to alert residents in the area that there was a suspected criminal on foot in the vicinity.

“Roughly at 10:30 p.m. that night we get calls from residents of a suspect out by (the former) Jamboree (In The Hills site). Units responded and the guy fled to the north side, but in minutes of setting up a perimeter, he was also recovered.

“You can see from his photograph he had some facial injuries because he was running through the woods and multiflora rose,” Lucas said.

Byron T. Carner, 33, of Cleveland and Todd D. Williams, 35, of Bedford, Ohio, were both arrested in connection with the incident. According to Lucas, both individuals are facing charges in Medina County, Ohio, for aggravated robbery, kidnapping and safe cracking. While Lucas was giving his press conference Chief Deputy James Zusack told him that he had just been informed that Carner and Williams were wanted in connection with a spree of thefts from Rural King stores spanning four states in which $100,000 worth of tools were stolen.

Lucas praised the Belmont County residents who informed 911 that the suspect was walking around in the area.

“I’ve always said throughout my whole tenure as sheriff that we’re only as good as the community that works with us. And I don’t want to leave 911 out because they are top-notch, they are the backbone of doing the reverse 911 in the area,” Lucas said. “This is just a classic case of doing a reverse 911 in that area. We had a resident call in and say, ‘Here he is,’ and keep us informed as to where we were able to set up a perimeter and eventually get him.”

He added that he couldn’t count how many times a person has been apprehended due to a concerned resident calling and informing 911.

Lucas believes that the suspect who was arrested after the foot pursuit came out of hiding in the woods in hopes of hitchhiking a ride out of the area. Lucas admitted that if Williams had been successful in an attempt to flee the area, it would have been challenging to find him due to Carner’s refusal to cooperate.

Both men were being held at the Belmont County Jail on Thursday, charged with theft and failure to comply with the order of a police officer. The total bond amount for each is set at $12,000.