30-year old Michelle Lynn Warnick has a penchant for creating trouble which usually seems to end in hi-speed chases. Not content with being arrested on May 5 after a police pursuit. Warnick allegedly put up a repeat performance on June 22. However, unlike the earlier episode that landed two other people apart from Warnick in the hospital, this one was a mild incident.
It all started on Saturday afternoon, June 22, around 2 o’clock when the staff at the Best Buy on Retail Commons Parkway, Martinsburg, spotted Warnick shoplifting a cellphone case. They allege that they tried to detain her and two employees escorted her to an office until the authorities arrived. Warnick, however, managed to shove them aside, running out of the store on foot and later escaping in a red Jeep Liberty.
The policemen who arrived at the retail outlet in response to the complaint, chased down Warnick who was not just speeding but negotiating turns recklessly and travelling left off center, according to a police report. She was finally cornered on Apple Harvest Drive where she abandoned the Jeep and hid in a barn where the police finally discovered her. They also recovered a small purse a few feet away from her containing heroin, syringes, and drug related paraphernalia. A second purse in the jeep had a bottle with over two dozen Oxycodone pills – a prescription drug.
Michelle Lynn Warnick was arraigned the following day (Sunday, June 23) on felony charges of possession with intent to distribute heroin and Oxycodone and fleeing in a vehicle with reckless indifference. In addition, misdemeanor charges of driving on a suspended license (her third offense), shoplifting (a second offense) are also being brought against her. Warnick is currently in the Eastern Regional Jail on bail of $66,500.
