Man led deputies on chase one day after being released from prison

IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — Deputies arrested a man they said led them on a chase after stealing cigarettes and a drink early Saturday morning -- one day after being released from prison.

Authorities were called around 6:30 a.m. after an employee at the Zip N Go on Charlotte Highway in Mooresville reported that a man had just stolen cigarettes, a lighter and a beverage.

Responding deputies spotted the suspect vehicle, a stolen North Carolina Department of Agriculture pickup truck driven by 30-year-old David Pope, and tried to pull it over, but said Pope would not stop. Instead, he led law enforcement on a chase that spanned from Mooresville through Troutman and eventually ended on a dead end road in Stony Point.

During the pursuit, deputies deployed stop sticks on three separate occasions, and the Dodge ran over them each time, but did not stop until Pope finally turned onto Cain Road, which is a dead end road, and pulled into a driveway and stopped.

Pope, who had just been released from prison on Friday after serving several years for a sex offense, was arrested and charged with felony fleeing to elude arrest, felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle, driving while license revoked, larceny, resisting a public officer, speeding, littering, driving left of center and a stop light violation.

He was booked into the Iredell County Jail under a $25,000 secured bond.

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