Grand jury returns Commerce indictments

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October 29, 2009

By BRAD KELLAR The Commerce Journal Thu Oct 29, 2009, 10:02 PM CDT

The Hunt County grand jury returned multiple indictments earlier this month involving alleged offenses connected to Commerce.

A Lamar County woman, who was already facing trial in connection with a reported high-speed chase last summer through portions of Hunt and Delta counties, was indicted Oct. 23 for aggravated robbery, a Commerce man was indicted for an alleged dating violence assault, and a Hunt County woman already facing charges of aggravated robbery and felony theft was indicted again for an alleged felony theft at a Commerce store.

— Vicki Dawn Szalay, 44, of Sumner, received one indictment for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Szalay is currently facing trial on charges of child endangerment and evading arrest in connection with a pursuit reported on the evening of July 15, 2008 following a reported robbery at Crossroads Mall in Greenville. The latest indictment alleges the vehicle Szalay was driving during the reported robbery was used as a deadly weapon.

Szalay was charged with evading arrest/detention with a vehicle and endangering a child for having two children in the back seat of the vehicle she was driving at the time. She had pleaded not guilty to the earlier indictments. An arraignment on the aggravated robbery charge had not been scheduled as of Wednesday, although an interim hearing on the previous indictments is set for Monday.

According to criminal complaints filed as part of court records, the Commerce Police Department had received a notice to be on the lookout for a blue Chevrolet Cavalier, heading toward Commerce on State Highway 224. The vehicle was being sought in connection with a reported aggravated robbery at Crossroads Mall in Greenville earlier on the evening of July 15, 2008. Commerce police officers in separate patrol cars reported they fell in behind Szalay’s vehicle and turned on their lights and sirens, but that the suspect refused to pull over and led the units on a chase “well over the speed limit” east on Highway 224 and then northbound onto Highway 24/50 into Delta County. The chase finally ended about three miles south of Cooper, when Szalay surrendered. Inside the vehicle, officers found several items which were believed to have been stolen during the reported robbery, including items of clothing with the price tags still attached, a pruner, a candle and a lady’s shaver. The two children, a 12-year-old male and 6-year-old female, were brought to the Commerce Police Department and later turned over to Child Protective Services.

The indictments filed by the Hunt County grand jury in February indicate Szalay has four prior felony convictions, three for possession of cocaine and one for credit/debit card abuse, dating back to 2001.

— Stayce Earl Lewis, 40, of Commerce, was indicted for assault causing bodily injury/dating violence with prior. Lewis was alleged in the indictment to have choked and bit a female acquaintance on May 18. According to the indictment, Lewis was previously convicted of dating violence in 1999, as well as assault on a public servant in 2003 and 2004 and a charge of aggravated assault causing bodily injury in 2004.

— Pamela Florene Timmons, 46, Commerce/Greenville received an indictment for felony theft, for an alleged shoplifting at the Dollar General on Live Oak Street in Commerce Feb. 10. Timmons was indicted for felony theft in September for a reported shoplifting at the Dollar General Store on Mangum Street in Commerce Feb. 25. A theft is filed as a felony if it is the third or more such incident involving the same suspect. Timmons has been convicted of felony theft five times, twice in 1999 and three times in 2002. Timmons was sentenced to four years in prison in connection with the latter convictions. Timmons was also convicted of unauthorized use of a vehicle in 2007, for which she was sentenced to 365 days in a state jail.

Timmons has also been charged, but not indicted, with aggravated robbery for allegedly shoplifting a bottle of beer from the Commerce Brookshire’s on Sept. 8. A store employee was hit by a vehicle and injured during the incident.

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