WESTLAKE, Ohio — A police pursuit last week ended with two people in custody and a missing girl being returned home.
Everything started around 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 15 when North Olmsted Police alerted neighboring agencies about 35-year-old Jeffrey A. Desler, who had fled from officers attempting to serve him a probate order. In the early morning hours of Oct. 16, Westlake police were alerted when a license plate reader spotted Desler's vehicle.
“About two in the morning or so, we got alerts that he was driving on Crocker Road,” Westlake Police Captain Gerald Vogel said.
According to Vogel, the man ran again.
“They got behind his vehicle, and he started to flee from them through Crocker Park and down Crocker Road. We pursued him— so lights and sirens— trying to catch him,” Vogel said.
Officers followed the truck until they lost sight of it. Not long after, they found the vehicle empty and abandoned in the middle of the road with the doors open.
“We found a long gun, which is an AR-15 type rifle, along with another handgun in the car,” said Vogel. Guns that authorities say were allegedly stolen from Desler's father's home.
Police said they also found a 35-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl not far from the pickup truck. They told officers Desler was giving them a ride from Downtown Cleveland, but when they got to Westlake, he would not let them out of the car— stating Desler held them at gunpoint as he drove around.
Police said they later learned other agencies were searching for the man and girl.
“One of the passengers in the vehicle was a 16-year-old female who was actually entered as missing. So she was endangered-missing. The male she was with was a 36-year-old man who had a probation violation warrant out for his arrest,” said Vogel.
Multiple agencies searched on foot and with a drone for Desler. They later found him hiding in the nearby area with a pistol in his waistband.
Vogel said he's never seen anything like this but is thankful for license plate readers and a proactive team.
“Using technology, along with traditional police work, really does wonders, and I think we do it well,” Vogel said.
Vogel said that the 16-year-old girl, who had been missing from University Heights, was safely returned to her parents. The 35-year-old man was taken into custody due to outstanding warrants with the Ohio Adult Parole Authority for prior convictions involving sex offenses with a minor.
Desler now faces multiple charges, including kidnapping, child endangerment, and fleeing from police.
