ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The investigation into a stolen Kia Sorento that was the focus of St. Johns County deputies when a 17-year-old was shot early Thursday morning has yielded two more arrests.
The Sheriff's Office says Brandon Rich was approaching the SUV in the parking lot of the Quality Inn on State Road 16 by Interstate 95 just after 6 a.m. when he refused to comply with deputies ordering him to lie on the ground. He was shot in the leg when he continued into the vehicle and reached into the center console.
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Rich (pictured, below) has been released from Flagler Hospital and was booked into a juvenile detention facility on a charge of dealing in stolen property. Detectives say other charges are pending.
A 31-year-old woman who was with Rich complied with deputies, but was arrested on an unrelated, outstanding warrant.
The Sheriff's Office announced Friday it has arrested Lenna Obrien, 26, on two counts of grand theft auto. She is accused of stealing the SUV from her grandmother Wednesday night. In addition, a clerk at another hotel -- Wayne Mort, 53, was charged with obstruction, accused of tipping off Obrien that U.S. marshals were looking for her.
Channel 4 was told that investigators believe Obrien was going to enter an arrangement with Rich to allow him to use the stolen SUV -- perhaps to sell the 75 rocks of crack cocaine that deputies found inside the vehicle.
Obrien was arrested walking away from the Days Inn on State Road 16, where Mort was working.
The second count of grand theft auto against Obrien was connected to another stolen vehicle in December 2012. She remains in the St. Johns County jail on $10,000 bond.
Mort was released Friday morning after posting $500 bond.