WAUKESHA — Two Milwaukee men were charged Monday after they allegedly met a man selling a car on Facebook in Oconomowoc on Saturday, then stole it, with one of them leading police on a high-speed chase that resulted in two collisions on Interstate 94.
Xaivonta McFarland, 22, and Tscumbe Rhodes, 21, both were charged with operating an auto without owner’s consent, with McFarland also facing two counts of fleeing police, four counts of recklessly endangering safety and two more of hit-and-run of a vehicle. McFarland was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail and Rhodes was ordered held on $1,000 cash bail.
A criminal complaint said a man advertised his Lincoln MKS for sale on Facebook, and met McFarland at the Kwik Trip on Brown Street in Oconomowoc, with Rhodes driving the car that brought McFarland to the site. The seller let McFarland hold the key fob during two test drives, and after the second both men were standing outside the vehicle when McFarland jumped into it and took off, with Rhodes driving behind him at about 1:34 p.m. Saturday, the complaint said.
Area police agencies were notified, and a Hartland officer chased the Lincoln at speeds of up to 116 mph east on Highway 16, the complaint said. The officer turned onto Wisconsin Avenue, where he saw the Lincoln driving, this time with no front license plate and the back plate being a dealer plate that listed to no vehicle; the vehicle ID number listed to the seller, the complaint said. The chase resumed, with McFarland getting back onto eastbound Highway 16 from Ryan Street, then exiting on Main, then running a red light near Grandview Boulevard and Golf Road, the complaint said. McFarland then got onto westbound 94 at Grandview, and struck two vehicles — no one was injured — before getting out of the Lincoln and running south, the complaint said. McFarland was found under a deck in the 2800 block of Berkshire Drive, was arrested without further incident and complained of injuries to his left shoulder, neck and ribs, the complaint said. Rhodes was found driving the white Honda Civic seen at the Kwik Trip on Oakton Avenue in Pewaukee, along with a key fob to a Lincoln vehicle, the complaint said.