Friday, June 4, 2010
Child Rapist Sought By Authorities Is Captured
A Lawrenceburg man sought by authorities on a child rape indictment was captured Thursday afternoon.
Lawrenceburg Police Department Investigator Don Laws had issued a public request for assistance on Tuesday, indicating that the department was seeking the whereabouts of Steven Daniel Higgins, age 21.
An indictment had been returned against Higgins by a Lawrence County Grand Jury, charging him with the crime of rape of a child.
Authorities became aware of Higgins whereabouts Thursday afternoon by tracking his cell phone, and quickly made their way to that location.
Higgins fled, leading law enforcement officials from the police department, Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and Tennessee Highway Patrol on a chase that lasted some 2 ½ hours.
The chase spanned from the northern most areas of the county in the Summertown community, to the Fishtrapp and Piney communities in Western Lawrence County.
Once capture appeared imminent, they indicate Higgins exited the vehicle and fled on foot. He was captured shortly afterwards, then transported to the Lawrence County Jail where he was booked on the capias for rape of a child as well as a new charge of evading arrest.
Authorities report Higgins was a passenger in the vehicle driven by twenty-three-year-old Joshua Ray Blake of Lawrenceburg. He, too, was taken into custody.
Blake was booked on charges that include evading arrest, driving on a suspended driver license, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, two counts of reckless endangerment, and simple possession of marijuana. Authorities indicate additional charges are pending.
A female juvenile passenger inside the vehicle was also taken into police custody. She was later turned over to the custody of the Tennessee Department of Chldren’s Services.
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