A 26-year-old Salem man charged after allegedly stealing a neighbor’s car last month is in the county prison, while his mother is charged with two felony counts of hindering his apprehension.
After a month on the run, Jesse Vaughn Lawson was caught Sunday by state police after they investigated an unrelated harassment complaint at his mother’s home on Little Acres Lane according to court records.
Lawson was charged with theft of a motor vehicle and criminal mischief and driving on a suspended license last month. Charges of disorderly conduct and harassment are pending after Sunday’s incident, according to court records.
State police Trooper Luke Hanko said he told Barbara L. Reinauer, 55, on Saturday that her son was wanted on multiple arrest warrants. She told troopers that she had not seen him. Hanko said a search of her home that day “yielded negative results.”
Troopers were called back to the Little Acres Lane residence after multiple reports of a “disturbance” there Sunday morning, according to police reports.
Two witnesses along the rural road told police that Lawson was involved in the incident, but left. Both witnesses told troopers they saw Reinauer driving her son “to and from the residence.”
Reinauer refused troopers access to her home on Sunday, according to court documents. Lawson was arrested later in Scottdale.
In early November, a Salem resident said Lawson drove off in her 2000 silver Buick LaSabre.Two days after the theft, she told troopers that she woke up to find a handwritten note on her door that said “took (car) to change oil and stuff and put on a lift.”
The woman said she allowed Lawson work on her car, but never gave him permission to drive it.
On Nov. 16, state police said the car was found abandoned at a farm equipment store along Route 819 in Salem with the interior damaged and the ignition inoperable.
Lawson and his mother were arraigned together Monday morning before District Judge Jason Buczak, who ordered him held in the county prison after he failed to post $25,000 bond while Reinauer was released on $10,000 unsecured bond pending a preliminary hearing Dec. 21.
Reinauer could not be reached for comment and attorneys were not listed in court documents for either Lawson or Reinauer.
