A van parked outside of Buy-Low auto parts was stolen earlier this month, only to be wrecked and ditched a short distance away.

Two young individuals were reported to have left the scene of the accident involving a van on Richardson Road. One individual, Arthur McCastile, 18, of 610 Lewis Circle, was charged by two departments for various charges in that incident.

Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department investigator Bill Martin said the call came into dispatch at about 3:30 the afternoon of Oct. 7, where witnesses saw two male individuals running from the scene of the accident. When deputies responded they found the van still running and the ignition switch missing from the vehicle.

“Apparently they had just taken and driven (the van) from Buy-Low to Richardson Road and wreaked it,” Picayune Police Deputy Chief David Ervin said.

When the owner of the vehicle was finally contacted, after some difficulty due to a pending title transfer, investigators found the vehicle was taken from in front of the Buy-Low parts store on Miss. 43 N. Ervin said contacting the owner of the vehicle was difficult because it had recently been sold, so the first attempt was unsuccessful.

The Sheriff’s Department charged McCastile with no driver’s license, no insurance and leaving the scene of an accident, Ervin said. McCastile is in custody at the Pearl River Jail in Millard and the Picayune Police Department put a hold on McCastile for grand larceny of the automobile, Ervin said.

The 16 year-old juvenile in the van with McCastile was not charged in the incident, Ervin said.