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The incident took place in Trumbull around 5:30 p.m., on Friday, Dec. 9 at the Westfield Trumbull Mall.
Trumbull Police located the vehicle, which was reported stolen to the New Haven Police Department on Wednesday, Dec. 7, in the mall parking lot where the vehicle was recovered and the occupants apprehended, said Lt. Brian Weir, of the Trumbull Police.
A Trumbull officer located 18-year-old Malikhi Isiah Odums, of New Haven, sitting in the driver’s seat of the stolen Hyundai Kona, as it was stopped in front of the lower-level Target area, Weir said.
Weir said as backup officers were responding to assist, a passenger entered the stolen vehicle which then drove away, with the initial officer following.
The Hyundai then pulled into a parking space before Odums and his passenger were quickly taken into police custody, police said.
The Hyundai had the steering column broken where the key cylinder had been removed and there was a USB cable used to override the vehicle’s ignition system, Weir added.
Weir said the car and its occupants were connected to numerous stolen vehicle attempts in New Haven in recent days and had fled from officers who had tried to apprehend them in that city.
It was determined that the juvenile girl was not involved in the theft of the vehicle and that she had just met Odums at the mall that night, police said.
She was later released to the care of her mother.
During the investigation, police said Odums provided false information to the police which included him signing police documents under a false name.
Odums was charged with:
- Larceny
- Risk of injury to a minor,
- Forgery
- Interfering with an officer.
He was held on a $25,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Monday, Dec. 19.
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