JEANNETTE, Pa. — A man is behind bars, and two juveniles are also facing charges after police say they stole a car from a woman’s home in the early morning hours Monday, leading police on a chase before crashing the car under a train trestle.
Joel Munoz-Bayas was taken into custody after that crash and now faces a long list of charges in connection with stealing that car, and recklessly endangering the two juveniles who were in the car, who are also listed as co-defendants in the theft.
That car was stolen from Nancy Heath’s driveway. She tells Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek she couldn’t sleep well, and a flood light came on outside a little after 2 a.m. Since she was awake, she went to see what tripped the motion sensor.
“Probably around 2:00, 2:10, something like that, I noticed the flood light coming on on the sidewalk here right next to my car. I check it to make sure there’s no animals, sometimes animals come around. I look out the window, and I didn’t have my glasses on at the time, and I’d seen two guys right out by my car!” Heath said.
She didn’t think to yell at them from the window, but put her robe on and made her way downstairs. She was going to hit the panic button and try to scare them off, but then she saw them pulling out of the driveway in her car!
“I couldn’t believe it! I mean, I was really upset. I was really upset,” Heath said.
According to police, Munoz-Bayas and the two juveniles stole the car and turned onto Harrison Avenue, driving 60 miles-per-hour on a 25-mile-per-hour stretch of road, without headlights on.
Police turned on their lights and started following Munoz-Bayas, who continued to speed away, blowing through two red lights and recklessly driving.
“I’m glad they’re caught,” Heath said. “I’m glad they weren’t killed because front end, a head-on collision like that, it sounds like a head-on collision, I mean they could have been killed.”
Heath just bought that car in January, and now needs a new one.
“Now I’m kind of leery because I’m thinking if I get another car and have it in the driveway, am I going to be up all night long watching to make sure nobody steals that?” Heath said.
Munoz-Bayas is being held in the Westmoreland County Jail. He’s due in court on May 22.
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