Alleged shoplifting leads to high-speed chase through lake area

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. - Two 23-year-old Kansas City women led authorities on a high-speed chase Tuesday through rural Missouri after allegedly shoplifting from a mall at the Lake of the Ozarks.

At approximately 2:05 p.m. Tuesday, Osage Beach police received a call of two females shoplifting from stores at the Osage Beach Premium Outlet Mall.

When the officers arrived, Tiara N. Johnson and Katara S. Young were getting into a 2008 white Lexus, officers said. The officers attempted to position their car behind the Lexus, but the driver attempted to back into the police vehicle, the report said. The officer took evasive action, and the driver left the parking lot at a high rate of speed.

Johnson and Young allegedly drove onto westbound Osage Beach Parkway, failing to yield to oncoming vehicles. The two women executed a U-turn in the construction zone of the Grand Glaize bridge and were traveling eastbound on the Osage Beach Parkway at speeds of 90-100 mph, officers said.

The pursuit continued on Highway 54 until they exited the highway at the Eldon-Missouri Highway 52 exit. Officers discontinued pursuit of the car due to heavy city traffic in Eldon and lost sight of the car as it headed toward Barnett. The Missouri State Highway Patrol and Morgan County deputies later stopped the car near the intersection of Highway 52 and Route AA in Barnett. The stolen property was later located in a barn in the Barnett area, the report said.

Johnson and Young are being held in the Camden County Jail on one count of felony stealing. A $2,000 cash bond and $50,000 surety bond were assessed for both.