Home invasion suspects charged after high-speed chase
The Halifax County Sheriff's Office has filed armed robbery and kidnapping charges against three suspects caught after a high-speed chase that criss-crossed three counties early Friday.
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Michael Christopher Wilkins, 31, of Hollister, Rodney O'Neal Lynch, 33, of Enfield, and Sharonda Denise Hendricks, 23, of Medoc, all face charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon, second-degree kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of stolen goods and possession of stolen goods.
Wilkins was also charged with two counts each of fleeing to elude arrest with a motor vehicle and failing to stop for blue lights and sirens and one count each of speeding and driving with a revoked license.
All three were being held in the Halifax County Jail. Wilkins had a $100,000 secured bond, and Lynch and Hendricks had separate $50,000 secured bonds.
Investigators said that Wilkins knocked on the door of an Enfield home, told Julian Hawkins Jr. he had car trouble and asked if he could use the phone. Hawkins told police that he turned his back on Wilkins for a second, then turned around to see a gun pointed at him.
Hawkins and another resident, Teresa Stansbury, were tied up and held at gunpoint for an hour. Hawkins was pistol-whipped. The trio stole TVs, clothes, a video recorder and laptop, which deputies recovered.
The victims reported the robbery, and a Nash County sheriff's deputy spotted the suspects' vehicle. They led authorities on a chase that reached up to 110 mph and criss-crossed Nash, Franklin and Halifax counties. It ended when the vehicle hit stop sticks laid by a state trooper.
Wilkins and Lynch both have criminal records dating to the mid-1990s, according to state Department of Correction records. DOC records show that both men served prison time for common-law robberies committed on May 9, 2005, and 17, 2005, in Nash County.
Wilkins has been convicted in five other common-law robberies and in three assaults, including one on a handicapped person, DOC records show. He also has 20 convictions for passing worthless checks.
Lynch has additional convictions for breaking-and-entering and stealing dogs, according to DOC records.
Hendricks has convictions for drug violations and trespassing from 2003 and 2004.
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