It was the week before Christmas in 2017 when a quiet Seagoville neighborhood near Central Elementary School became the scene of a wide ranging vandalism spree, one that would end with a police chase, a crash into a front yard tree, and two young men in handcuffs.
On the night of December 23, 2017, the Seagoville Police Department began receiving a string of calls reporting vehicles being vandalized throughout the neighborhood surrounding Central Elementary. As officers responded to the area, one Seagoville Police Officer spotted two suspects in the act of damaging a vehicle.
Rather than stop, the suspects jumped into their own vehicle and attempted to flee, sparking a brief pursuit through the neighborhood streets. The chase came to an abrupt end when the suspects crashed into a tree in the front yard of a nearby home. Both were taken into custody on the spot and booked into jail.
Police identified the pair as Anthony Reyes Flores, 18, and
, 17, both residents of Seagoville. Given the scale of damage they had caused across the neighborhood, each was charged with the felony offense of Criminal Mischief in the range of 2,500 to 30,000 dollars. Reyes Flores faced additional charges of Evading Arrest or Detention with a Vehicle and Resisting Arrest, Search or Transport.
The scope of the case became clear in the weeks that followed. Seagoville Police detectives worked to track down victims across the neighborhood, ultimately identifying 32 individuals whose vehicles had been damaged that December night, a number large enough that investigators publicly asked for any additional victims who had not yet come forward to contact the department.
The case was forwarded to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, with victims given the opportunity to seek restitution through that office.
It stands today as one of the more striking examples in Seagoville’s recent history of how a single night of trouble can ripple across an entire neighborhood, and a reminder of the work Seagoville Police Officers and detectives put in to track down accountability for residents long after the patrol cars cleared the scene.
This Seagoville Flashback is based on an official Seagoville Police Department news release dated February 7, 2018.
