BOWIE COUNTY, Texas–A woman who allegedly tried to conceal a fugitive being sought by police at her home was arrested Tuesday at her Maud, Texas, home along with the man officers had been chasing.
Victoria Blocker, 27, is accused of lying to a Texas Dept. of Public Safety trooper who was assisting the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office in the search for Preston Lynn McElwee, 27, in a neighborhood on FM 3098, according to a probable cause affidavit. Sheriff’s deputies had been chasing McElwee but lost sight of him in a nearby wooded area when they received a 911 call from a resident who said McElwee had come to her door asking for water before running away.
Officers had seen McElwee run towards Blocker’s home and had been permitted to look around the house earlier in their search. When Blocker’s neighbor called police, the trooper went back to Blocker’s residence to determine if he had turned up there.
The trooper noted that while waiting for Blocker to respond to his second visit to the home, he heard a lot of activity in a back room before Blocker came to the door. Blocker was allegedly “acting very strange” during the second encounter with the trooper and allegedly claimed she hadn’t seen McElwee.
The trooper stood outside the house and waited.
“After a few minutes Preston exited out of the house and began running west through the woods,” the affidavit said.
The trooper located McElwee hiding under a porch not far from Blocker’s house and took him into custody on outstanding warrants including a felony theft charge, a probation warrant and a warrant for failing to appear at a court hearing on a misdemeanor marijuana charge.
McElwee’s felony theft charge involves a trailer and its contents which were stolen from McCurtain County, Oklahoma, according to a probable cause affidavit in that case. The trailer and some of the tools and other items which had been inside were recovered in Bowie County and linked to McElwee.
Blocker is currently being held in the Bowie County jail with bail set at $10,000. McElwee’s bonds total $60,000 on theft and evading arrest charges. McElwee is not entitled to bond in his misdemeanor marijuana case because he failed to show for a court hearing in the spring of 2023. McElwee was placed on misdemeanor probation in January 2022 for theft from vehicles and a motion to revoke his probation was filed last year, court records show.
Blocker faces six months to two years in a state jail if convicted of attempting to hinder apprehension. McElwee faces six months to two years in a state jail if convicted of theft of property. He faces up to a year in the county jail on the marijuana charge.
