COLUMBIA, Ill. — A man and a woman have been identified after a high-speed police chase early Friday morning. Dakota Bowman, 29, and Samantha Hamelmann, 25, are both in custody at the Monroe County Jail.
Bowman is facing felony charges for the stolen car chase, having meth on him, trying to deliver Fentanyl. Hamelmann is charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine. They both have court hearings today.
“You come to our county to commit a crime and you decide to run, you bet we will chase you, not only chase you we will catch you. Then our States Attorney will charge you, and our Judges will send you to prison. We have a job to do and that is to protect our citizens from evil. If criminals think they can come to Monroe County to commit a crime and think the Sheriff’s Department will not chase them, I highly recommend they rethink their plan,” states Sheriff Neal Rohlfing.
Columbia Police made the arrest on I-255 after a long-distance pursuit. Around 6 a.m. Friday, Monroe County Sheriff’s Police saw a vehicle that was reported stolen driving southbound on State Route 3 near Ames Road in Waterloo, Illinois. The vehicle was stolen in a robbery in Normandy, Missouri, earlier in the night.