2 arrested in Leesburg after stealing from home improvement stores, fleeing police in stolen U-Haul

LEESBURG, Va. - Two suspects were arrested in Leesburg after allegedly stealing from at least two home improvement stores and trying to flee police in a stolen vehicle. 

Police say Brendan Brown, 35, and Jenna Wilber, 22, have been charged with several counts after they allegedly robbed a Tractor Supply store and a Lowes Home Improvement, then attempted to evade police in a U-Haul. 

Leesburg officers were called to the Tractor Supply store on Edwards Ferry Road around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29 for a report of a robbery. Witnesses say the suspects fled the store in a U-Haul van with Arizona license plates. Officers began to canvass area retail centers and found the vehicle in the Lowes parking lot. 

Two subjects, later identified as Brown and Wilber, got into the van and fled the Lowes parking lot at a high rate of speed. Wilber refused to stop for police and ultimately crashed the van in a grassy area near the intersection of the Leesburg bypass and Fort Evans Road NE. 

Both Brown and Wilber hopped out of the van and fled the vehicle on foot. Police caught them nearby and placed them under arrest. 

Police found suspected methamphetamine, suspected buprenorphine and drug paraphernalia on Wilber and additional drug paraphernalia was found in the van. 

Following an investigation, officers discovered that Brown and Wilber had also shoplifted from the Leesburg Lowes before they fled from police. 

Additionally, the van had been reported stolen out of Maryland, and Brown and Wilber were found to have recently been involved in multiple other theft incidents in other Virginia and West Virginia Jurisdictions.

Brown has been charged with two counts of shoplifting, one count of eluding, and one count of possession of a stolen vehicle. 

Wilber has been charged with two counts of shoplifting, one count of reckless driving, one count of eluding, one count of possession of a stolen vehicle, one count of possession of schedule II controlled dangerous substance, and one count of possession of schedule III controlled dangerous substance.

"I would like to commend the diligent efforts of our officers on this investigation. I would also like to thank our retail partners for their continued cooperation in the prosecution of shoplifters," Leesburg Police Chief Thea Pirnat said. "These are not victimless crimes, and as evidenced this week, are not harmless incidents."

Brown and Wilber are both being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center with no bond.