Wayne Sailar. Contributed photo.
Wayne Sailar has been a thorn in Brookfield Police Sgt. Cody Dean’s side for about two years.
Dean was able to extricate that thorn when Sailar was arrested in Hermitage following a two-day manhunt that included law enforcement authorities from Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Brookfield police have filed six felony counts along with numerous misdemeanor and traffic charges against Sailar, 46, of Pulaski, Pa., who also faces charges filed by Sharon, Farrell and Hubbard police.
The heat was turned up on Sailar Dec. 1 when he sent a text to an ex-girlfriend that police interpreted as indicating he was suicidal, police said. Because of that factor, warrants filed against him in Ohio and Pennsylvania, past drug history and past evidence of violence, police marshaled local forces to pursue Sailar. He was found asleep on a stolen ATV on Dec. 2 in woods along Orange Drive, and arrested, police said.
Brookfield police have charged Sailar with:
- Felony theft for stealing a 2002 GMC Sierra Oct. 9, 2020, from Mays Auto, 880 S. Irvine Avenue. The pickup was recovered after being involved in an accident in Pennsylvania.
- Felony receiving stolen property and misdemeanor fleeing for driving a pickup stolen from Hubbard Township through Masury on Aug. 25. Police said they spotted Sailar on Sharon Bedford Road, but lost sight of him when he entered Sharon on Route 62.
- Felony theft for stealing a car Nov. 19 from Superior Street and North Stateline Road. The car was left running. Hermitage police recovered the car Nov. 21.
- Felony theft for stealing an ATV Nov. 28 from a home in the 1000 block of North Stateline Road. This ATV was the one Sailar was sleeping on when he was found Dec. 2.
- Felony receiving stolen property and misdemeanor criminal damaging and riding an ATV on a roadway for using a stolen ATV to chase an ex-girlfriend, who was driving a truck, Nov. 29 on Bedford Road, and tearing up a yard on Bedford.
- Felony receiving stolen property after a car that had been stolen from Sharon was found Nov. 30 at the end of West A Street near a tent where Sailar had been staying.
- Misdemeanor fleeing and driving an ATV on a roadway after he was seen riding a four-wheeler Dec. 1 on Standard Avenue and Sharon Bedford Road. Police lost sight of him when he drove onto railroad tracks, but found him again coming out of woods near Route 62. Police chased Sailar into Sharon, but lost him when he drove through a yard and down an alley in the area of Ohio Street.
- Misdemeanor inducing panic for the manhunt Dec. 1.
Hubbard police have charged Sailar with two felony counts of receiving stolen property stemming from an incident Aug. 9. Sharon police charged Sailar with causing an accident and traffic violations for an incident Nov. 29. Farrell police charged him with receiving stolen property and other counts for an incident Aug. 24.
Because Sailar was arrested in Pennsylvania, law enforcement authorities there have the first crack at prosecuting him. The Farrell and Sharon cases have been held for common pleas court.
