SCRANTON — A driver who sped away on Interstate 81 from Scranton police trying to pull his vehicle over for a traffic violation was found later hiding in a basement of an apartment in Dickson City, according to court documents.
The defendant, Robert Anthony Olavarria, 28, who is homeless, led police on a high-speed chase on I-81 north from River Street to Dickson City, and along Main Street in Dickson City, a criminal complaint and affidavit say.
The incident began Friday at 9:43 p.m. when police tried to stop a white Nissan Altima with a Florida license plate as it entered I-81 north from River Street. A short time earlier, an emergency police alert had been issued for a man wanted in connection with an unspecified rape. Patrolmen Jason Hyler and Kyle Gilmartin of the Scranton Police Department Street Crimes Unit saw a man fitting the description of the rape suspect leaving Joe’s Kwik Mart on Meadow Avenue.
Upon seeing the officers, the man hurried to his car, rushed out of the lot and failed to use a turn signal to enter the on-ramp for the highway.
The officers tried to pull the car over, but it sped off at speeds in excess of 100 mph and weaved through traffic. Police backed off the chase.
The officers caught up to the car while it was stopped behind another vehicle at a red light on Main Street in Dickson City. The car again sped away, turning east onto Shaffer Street, where police lost sight of it.
The officers issued a countywide alert for the car. Ten minutes later, Dickson City police found the car parked behind an apartment building at 450 Main St.
The Scranton officers went there, and a resident said he saw a man leave the car and run into a downstairs apartment.
Using a loudspeaker, police identified themselves and ordered the door to be opened. After 10 minutes, resident Xiomary Morales came out and at first denied letting anyone into the building, but then admitted she let the fleeing man in and helped hide him, the affidavit says. She gave police permission to search the residence.
Several officers searched the building and found the man hiding in the basement. He was taken into custody and identified as Olavarria, the affidavit says.
It turned out that Olavarria was not the rape suspect who was the subject of the initial emergency alert, but resembled him, according to the affidavit.
Olavarria had a blue Yankees backpack containing paraphernalia that included a digital scale, a blender canister, a razor blade with cocaine residue, latex gloves, a box of plastic bags, and plastic bags with ripped-off corners, all of which are items commonly used to cut, weigh and package drugs for sale, the affidavit says. Olavarria also had $650 in cash, which police believe was proceeds from drug sales, the affidavit says,
Olavarria is charged with fleeing/attempting to elude police, possession of cocaine, drug possession with intent to deliver and possession of paraphernalia, according to the criminal complaint. He was held in Lackawanna County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
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