Police: Teens who drove stolen car into pond captured while changing clothes

A pair of Lake County teens are facing numerous felony charges alleging they stole two cars earlier this month, driving one of them into a Port Barrington pond, before they were captured while changing into dry clothes bought with a stolen credit card, authorities said Tuesday.

Bradley J. Tieman, 18, of the 1400 block of East End Avenue in Round Lake Beach, and a male juvenile were charged last week in Lake County with burglary, theft and unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle in connection with the Sept. 7 car thefts in Port Barrington and an unincorporated neighborhood near Gurnee.

Tieman also faces charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, identity theft, and theft in McHenry County, authorities said. He's being held in the McHenry County jail on $20,000 bail.

The teens' arrests came hours after Lake County Sheriff's deputies were called at 2 a.m. Sept. 7 for a report of a vehicle in a pond near the 1200 block of Noble Drive in Port Barrington. Deputies determined that the 2015 Chevrolet Equinox in the pond had been stolen from the 300 block of Garrison Circle in Port Barrington.

About three hours later, Crystal Lake police officers were called to a Walmart at 1205 S. Route 31 for a report of two suspicious people inside the store. Authorities said the two, later identified as Tieman and the juvenile, walked into the store wearing wet clothes, used a stolen credit card to purchase dry clothing, then went to the store's restroom to change.

Lake County Sheriff's police said investigators determined Tieman and the juvenile drove to the Walmart in a Jeep Wrangler stolen from the 21900 block of West Washington Street near Gurnee.

The ignition keys to both the Chevrolet and Jeep were left inside the vehicles before they were stolen, authorities said.

Tieman is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 3 on the McHenry County charges. A court date has not been scheduled in his Lake County case, records show.