Runaway 'Bonnie and Clyde' Teens Seen in Florida

Cops call on pair to hurry up and surrender
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 17, 2015 3:48 PM CST
Runaway 'Bonnie and Clyde' Teens Seen in Florida
In this December 2014 photo provided by Tammy Martin, her son Dalton Hayes poses with his girlfriend, Cheyenne Phillips, at his family's home in Leitchfield, Ky.   (AP Photo/Tammy Martin)

Two runaway teenagers whose traveling crime spree has earned them comparisons to Bonnie and Clyde have been seen in Florida. The two, missing since Jan. 3, were seen panhandling, police tell NBC News. "I think (their spree) started as a game or something funny," a sheriff says. "So far, they've committed crimes in four states. We don't think it's funny." Dalton Hayes, 18, and Cheyenne Phillips, 13, are each wanted for stealing multiple cars, and Hayes is also wanted for custodial interference for his role in Phillips' running away, NBC News reports.

The two could be staying in homeless shelters or camps, Sheriff Norman Chaffins notes. He tells the AP that it's in their interest to hurry up and surrender. "There's going to come a time when we're not going to see him as an 18-year-old kid," he notes. "We're going to see him as someone who's stolen three vehicles with two handguns in them, and the outcome is not going to be good for either one of them if they don't turn themselves in." Meanwhile, Hayes' mother expresses her concern: "I pretty much cry myself to sleep every night worrying about where they are and if a police officer or any random individual tries to pull them over and isn't so nice and hurts them." (More Kentucky stories.)

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