Valley Springs High Speed Chase
Valley Springs, CA — Two Modesto men were arrested following a burglary and high speed chase in Calaveras County.
The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department reports that a deputy approached a vehicle early yesterday morning in the CVS parking lot in Valley Springs. The occupants in the gray Toyota Celica wanted to avoid the deputy, so they took off at a high rate of speed. The vehicle went westbound on Highway 12, reaching speeds up to 100 mph, and they refused to stop.
As the chase neared the San Joaquin county line, deputies requested assistance from the CHP and San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. Eventually the vehicle was forcibly stopped with spike strips on Highway 99. Two men jumped out of the car and ran, and they were quickly captured. They are identified as 26-year-old Luke Martin Lahman and 21-year-old Jason Robert Wright.
Inside the vehicle were two drawers from cash registers and a handgun. An investigation later found that Showtime Video had been burglarized in the Valley Oak Shopping Center, and it was linked to the two men. Deputies also found several pieces of opened mail scattered across the parking lot.
The Calaveras Sheriff’s Office reports that Lahman has an extensive criminal history and was recently released from a California Department of Corrections prison and is an AB 109 parolee.
