🚨 They Were Let Go With a Warning… Hours Later, Police Had to Track Them Down

There are traffic stops that end with a ticket.

There are stops that end with a warning.

And then there are the stops that seem completely ordinary—until police receive a second call and suddenly realize the person they had just spoken to may be connected to something much more serious.

That is what happened in Florida in April 2024.

A deputy pulled over a silver Chrysler sedan traveling through a school zone. The driver was a 17-year-old from Green Bay, Wisconsin. He told the deputy he was unfamiliar with the area and did not realize he was driving through a 20-mph zone.

The deputy issued him a written warning.

And then the two drove away.

At that moment, the encounter appeared to be over.

But it wasn't.

Only a few hours later, the same sheriff's office received information that transformed the earlier traffic stop into something completely different.

The vehicle had reportedly been reported stolen.

And the teenager behind the wheel had reportedly been entered as a missing person by police back in Wisconsin.

Suddenly, the deputy wasn't dealing with a teenager who had made a simple traffic mistake.

Authorities were looking for a missing juvenile traveling in a reportedly stolen vehicle hundreds of miles from home.

And the most remarkable part?

Police had already spoken to him.

They had already seen the vehicle.

They had already let him go.

Now they had to find him again.

The Traffic Stop That Seemed Like Nothing

The story begins on the morning of April 23, 2024, in Flagler County, Florida.

According to multiple reports, a Flagler County deputy spotted a vehicle with Wisconsin license plates traveling through a school zone at approximately 31 miles per hour where the posted limit was 20.

The driver was identified as 17-year-old Jayden Reed of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

From the outside, there was nothing about the traffic stop that necessarily suggested a much bigger investigation was about to unfold.

Reed reportedly told the deputy that he was new to the area and hadn't realized he was driving through a school zone.

The deputy ultimately issued him a written warning.

No dramatic pursuit.

No arrest.

No handcuffs.

No obvious confrontation.

Just a warning.

And the car left.

For most people, that would have been the end of the story.

But somewhere between that traffic stop and the next phone call, investigators learned something that changed everything.

The vehicle was reportedly stolen.

And Reed had been reported missing.

That meant the deputy had unknowingly encountered exactly the person authorities were looking for.

The warning was already in the past.

Now police had to retrace the trail.

The Call That Changed Everything

A few hours after the traffic stop, information reached the Flagler County Sheriff's Office communications center.

The silver Chrysler that had been stopped earlier was reportedly the same vehicle that had been reported stolen.

There was another important piece of information.

Reed had been entered as a missing person by the Green Bay Police Department.

Suddenly, the earlier traffic stop took on a completely different meaning.

The deputy had not simply encountered a teenager speeding through a school zone.

He had encountered a missing 17-year-old who was allegedly driving a vehicle taken from his father.

And the clock was already running.

Where had the car gone?

How far could it travel?

Was Reed still driving it?

Was someone else with him?

And perhaps most importantly—could investigators locate the vehicle before it disappeared again?

Authorities had one advantage.

They knew what they were looking for.

A silver Chrysler.

Wisconsin plates.

And a driver who had already been identified.

That information was enough to begin narrowing the search.

The Journey South

According to reporting based on information from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, Reed had left Wisconsin approximately two or three days before the Florida traffic stop.

Investigators said he had taken the vehicle from his father while his father was away on a business trip.

There was also additional context.

Reed had previously been stopped by Green Bay police for reckless driving and, according to the reports, had been restricted from driving the vehicle.

That makes the reported journey even more significant.

This wasn't simply a teenager who had borrowed a family vehicle for an afternoon.

According to authorities, the vehicle had been taken without permission and Reed had traveled from Wisconsin to Florida.

And he wasn't alone.

An 18-year-old passenger from Seymour, Wisconsin, identified in reports as Katie Stevens, was also inside the vehicle when deputies eventually located it.

At some point, the journey had carried the pair hundreds of miles from Wisconsin.

And then came that seemingly ordinary traffic stop.

A stop that, at the time, gave police no indication of the larger picture.

Then Police Found the Car Again

Once the Florida authorities received the information about the stolen vehicle and missing-person report, deputies began searching for the Chrysler.

According to the reports, authorities eventually located the vehicle at a gas station in Palm Coast, Florida.

This time, the situation was very different.

The deputies were no longer approaching the vehicle simply because it had exceeded a school-zone speed limit.

They believed they were dealing with a stolen vehicle.

They also knew the driver was a missing juvenile.

A high-risk traffic stop was conducted.

And the silver Chrysler was stopped again.

This time, there would be no written warning.

The Moment Everything Changed

The scene that followed is the moment that gives the story its dramatic turn.

Earlier that same day, the driver had apparently been able to leave after receiving a warning.

Now additional deputies were involved.

The vehicle was stopped.

And Reed and Stevens were removed from the car.

The contrast is striking.

One traffic stop had ended with a warning.

The second ended with both occupants being taken into custody.

The difference wasn't necessarily what happened during those few hours inside the vehicle.

The difference was what police had learned.

At the first stop, the deputy reportedly knew only that a car was traveling too fast through a school zone.

By the second stop, investigators reportedly knew that the vehicle had been reported stolen and that the driver was listed as missing.

The same car.

The same driver.

Two completely different circumstances.

Who Was Inside the Car?

The driver was identified in news reports as 17-year-old Jayden Reed of Green Bay.

The passenger was identified as 18-year-old Katie Stevens of Seymour, Wisconsin.

Their presence together became an important part of the investigation.

According to reports, Stevens told investigators that she had been traveling with Reed and her boyfriend.

She reportedly said her boyfriend had been arrested somewhere along the journey to Florida.

That account was part of the information investigators considered after the traffic stop.

Ultimately, Stevens was also arrested.

Authorities accused her of Grand Theft Auto and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, according to multiple reports.

Reed was arrested on a Grand Theft Auto charge.

Because he was 17, he was placed in the custody of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, according to WBAY's report.

Stevens was reported to be held at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on a $2,000 bond.

But There Was Another Detail

The vehicle wasn't simply far from Wisconsin.

According to investigators, it had been taken from Reed's father while he was away on a business trip.

That detail helps explain why the situation escalated so quickly once the Florida sheriff's office received the stolen-vehicle information.

The traffic stop had initially been about speed.

The later investigation was about a vehicle reported stolen and a missing teenager.

The first deputy could not reasonably know everything that would later be learned.

But once the information arrived, the earlier traffic stop became an important piece of the puzzle.

Police knew the car.

They knew the plate.

They knew the driver.

And now they knew the vehicle's reported status.

That combination made locating the Chrysler much easier than starting from scratch.

A Warning Became a Second Chance

There is an almost unbelievable twist in the timeline.

The first deputy had already had the vehicle in front of him.

The teenager had already been identified.

The deputy had already spoken with him.

And then the vehicle was allowed to continue.

Hours later, authorities were searching for the same car.

This is one of the reasons the story attracted attention.

It demonstrates how dramatically the meaning of a police encounter can change when new information becomes available.

At 9:20 in the morning, according to WFRV's report, the traffic stop was about a vehicle traveling 31 mph in a 20-mph school zone.

A couple of hours later, the sheriff's office reportedly learned that the vehicle had been reported stolen.

The information about Reed being a missing person followed as part of the same alert.

Suddenly, what had appeared to be an ordinary traffic stop became the first chapter of a much larger investigation.

The Question of How They Were Found

This is where the story becomes especially interesting.

The reports don't describe a dramatic Hollywood-style chase across Florida.

There was no reported high-speed pursuit in the sources reviewed for this story.

Instead, investigators appear to have used the information available to them—the vehicle description, Wisconsin plate, and missing-person information—to locate the Chrysler.

Authorities eventually found it at a gas station in Palm Coast.

That detail is important.

Sometimes a police investigation isn't about chasing someone down at 100 miles per hour.

Sometimes the breakthrough comes from recognizing something that has already been seen.

A license plate.

A vehicle description.

A previous traffic stop.

A location.

A missing-person alert.

One piece of information connects to another.

And suddenly investigators know where to look.

From Wisconsin to Florida

The distance involved adds another layer to the story.

Reed was from Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Florida was hundreds of miles away.

According to investigators, he had left Wisconsin two or three days before the Florida stop.

That means the silver Chrysler had already traveled a considerable distance before the deputy stopped it.

And yet, despite the distance, the vehicle was still recognizable.

The Wisconsin plate was still attached.

The driver was still behind the wheel.

And the car was still moving through the Florida community where deputies eventually encountered it.

That combination allowed the investigation to catch up with the people inside.

The Previous Reckless-Driving Stop

There was also history between Reed and Wisconsin police.

According to the reporting, Green Bay police had stopped Reed several weeks before the Florida incident for reckless driving.

As a result, Reed was reportedly restricted from driving the vehicle.

That earlier incident adds context to the decision to take the vehicle without permission, although the precise circumstances of the previous stop are not fully detailed in the sources reviewed.

What is documented is that investigators connected Reed to the Chrysler and said he had taken the vehicle from his father.

The result was a journey that eventually ended in Florida.

The Passenger's Side of the Story

Katie Stevens' involvement was also significant.

According to reports, Stevens told authorities she was traveling with Reed and her boyfriend.

She reportedly said that her boyfriend had been arrested while they were making their way toward Florida.

Despite that explanation, she was arrested.

Reports say she faced charges of Grand Theft Auto and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.

The available reports do not provide a full account of Stevens' defense or the ultimate resolution of her charges.

That distinction matters.

An arrest is not the same thing as a conviction.

The charges described in contemporary reporting were accusations made by authorities, not a judicial finding that every allegation had been proven.

What the Sheriff Said

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly praised his deputies after the arrests.

According to WBAY, Staly said the department responded quickly after receiving information about the missing juvenile and stolen vehicle.

The sheriff characterized the situation as a combination of a runaway juvenile and a stolen vehicle and said the response resulted in the vehicle being recovered and Reed being located before anyone was hurt.

His comments reflected the law-enforcement perspective on the incident.

From that perspective, the critical outcome was that officers recovered the vehicle and located the missing teenager.

But there is another detail that makes the case particularly memorable.

The first deputy had already encountered Reed.

The information needed to understand the situation simply had not reached that deputy yet.

The Strange Timing

Imagine the sequence from the perspective of the first deputy.

You see a vehicle speeding through a school zone.

You pull it over.

You speak to the driver.

He explains that he is unfamiliar with the area.

You issue a warning.

The vehicle leaves.

Nothing appears unusual.

Then, later that morning, your department receives information that the vehicle was stolen.

And the driver?

He's been reported missing.

Suddenly, you realize the vehicle you've already seen may be the exact vehicle investigators need to locate.

The story had effectively looped back on itself.

The search had begun after police had already made contact.

What Happened to the Car?

The Chrysler was recovered after deputies located it at the Palm Coast gas station.

The vehicle was no longer simply a means of transportation.

It had become a key piece of evidence.

Investigators could connect the car to the reported theft and to the missing-person report.

And once the vehicle was located, the investigation moved rapidly.

Reed was arrested.

Stevens was arrested.

The car was recovered.

And a journey that had begun in Wisconsin came to an abrupt end in Florida.

A Story About How Fast Information Can Change Everything

There is something almost cinematic about this case.

Not because of a long chase.

Not because of a dramatic standoff.

But because of timing.

The first encounter and the second encounter were separated by only a few hours.

The first time, the driver was treated as someone who had apparently committed a relatively minor traffic violation.

The second time, authorities approached the same vehicle knowing it had been reported stolen and that the driver was missing.

The difference was information.

And that information changed everything.

The Part We Don't Know

Some aspects of the story remain unclear from the publicly available reports.

The news coverage provides the broad timeline, but it does not provide every detail of the journey from Wisconsin to Florida.

We do not have a complete public reconstruction of every stop the pair made along the way.

We do not have a complete account of what happened to the boyfriend Stevens referenced.

And the available reports don't provide a full final court disposition for every charge described in the original coverage.

Those gaps are important.

A compelling story should not fill them with speculation.

What we know is already remarkable enough.

A 17-year-old was reported missing.

A vehicle belonging to his father was reported stolen.

The vehicle traveled from Wisconsin to Florida.

A Florida deputy stopped it for speeding.

The driver received a warning.

Hours later, authorities learned about the stolen vehicle and missing-person report.

The same vehicle was located.

A high-risk stop followed.

And both occupants were arrested.

Those are the documented pieces of the story.

The Warning That Didn't Stay a Warning

Perhaps the most memorable detail is the simplest one.

The warning.

For a brief moment, the situation looked finished.

The deputy had made the stop.

The driver had explained himself.

The warning had been issued.

The vehicle left.

But the warning wasn't the end of the story.

It was only the moment before police discovered what had been happening behind the scenes.

And that is why the case is so compelling.

Because if the communications center had never received that second piece of information, the story might have ended completely differently.

The vehicle might have continued south.

The occupants might have traveled farther.

The missing-person investigation might have continued.

Instead, information caught up with them.

The Search Ended at a Gas Station

There is something fitting about where the story ended.

Not on a remote highway.

Not after a massive pursuit.

But at a gas station.

A routine location where vehicles stop, people refuel, and travelers usually expect nothing more dramatic than a quick break.

For Reed and Stevens, however, it became the location where the journey ended.

Deputies located the silver Chrysler.

They conducted the high-risk stop.

And the two occupants were removed from the vehicle.

After traveling from Wisconsin to Florida, the pair were no longer on the road.

They were in police custody.

What This Case Leaves Behind

The story isn't simply about a stolen car.

It is about how a seemingly ordinary encounter can become something completely different when new information arrives.

It is also a reminder of how quickly a missing-person investigation can cross state lines.

Reed had reportedly traveled from Wisconsin to Florida.

The local Florida deputy initially had no apparent reason to know that the driver was the subject of a missing-person report in another state.

The information had to reach the right agency.

Once it did, the investigation changed direction.

And the earlier traffic stop became unexpectedly important.

The Image That Started the Story

The image associated with this story shows two young people sitting in the back of a police vehicle.

Their hands appear restrained behind them.

The visual immediately raises questions.

Who are they?

Why were they arrested?

What happened before the photograph?

And perhaps the biggest question of all:

How could people who had already been stopped and released with a warning end up in the back of a police vehicle only hours later?

The answer is the timeline.

First came the school-zone traffic stop.

Then came the warning.

Then came the alert about the stolen vehicle.

Then came the missing-person information.

Then came the search.

And finally, the second stop.

That sequence turns an ordinary traffic violation into a story with a much larger ending.

The Final Twist

There is a strange irony in what happened.

The Florida deputy did not need to find the vehicle from scratch.

Police had already found it.

They had already pulled it over.

They had already spoken to the driver.

But at the time, they didn't yet have the information that would have changed the encounter.

Hours later, that information arrived.

And police had to find the vehicle again.

This time, they knew exactly what they were looking for.

The second encounter wasn't a warning.

It was the end of the road.

Final Thoughts

On April 23, 2024, a silver Chrysler with Wisconsin plates entered the attention of a Florida deputy because it was traveling through a school zone at 31 mph in a 20-mph zone.

The driver, 17-year-old Jayden Reed, reportedly explained that he was unfamiliar with the area.

The deputy issued a written warning.

And the car continued on its way.

But only hours later, authorities learned that the vehicle had reportedly been stolen.

They also learned that Reed had been reported missing in Wisconsin.

The vehicle was located at a Palm Coast gas station.

This time, deputies conducted a high-risk traffic stop.

Reed and 18-year-old passenger Katie Stevens were removed from the vehicle.

Reed was arrested on a Grand Theft Auto charge.

Stevens was also arrested and faced charges reported as Grand Theft Auto and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.

A journey that had carried them from Wisconsin to Florida ended there.

And the entire sequence began with something as ordinary as a traffic warning.

That is what makes this story so striking.

Sometimes the most important moment in an investigation isn't the dramatic arrest.

Sometimes it is the moment before anyone realizes there is an investigation at all.

The first deputy saw a speeding car.

The second time police saw the same car, they saw something entirely different.

And between those two encounters was a single piece of information that changed the entire story.

🎥 Watch the Full Video Here

Want to see the footage and watch how this unusual story unfolded?

👉 The full video is posted here. Watch it below to see the traffic stop, the police response, and what happened when officers finally tracked the vehicle down.