AHOSKIE – An afternoon joy ride on a go-kart resulted in the arrest of three Ahoskie teens.

While Ahoskie Police Chief Troy Fitzhugh said the teenagers remain as suspects in the recent theft of three go-karts from Eddie Harrell’s Auto and Sports Store, they have not been charged with larceny.

However, after Ahoskie businessman Joe Harrell positively identified the go-kart operated by the teens as one of the three stolen from his store, Michael Sessoms, 16, Dominique Parker, 16, and Parise Pope, 18, were arrested Tuesday and charged with felonious possession of stolen property. Each was placed under a $3,000 secured bond and transported to the Hertford County Jail. They made their first court appearance yesterday (Friday).

Meanwhile, the two other stolen go-karts have been recovered, both abandoned due to damages. One was discovered in an area behind a Main Street business while the other was found by an Ahoskie property owner in a wooded area behind their residence.

Harrell positively identified both as belonging to his store. Those two karts were damaged n one with the wheels removed while the other was missing equipment as well as suffering a bent frame. Fitzhugh theorized the two abandoned karts may have been damaged during the larceny.

Harrell reported the karts missing on Monday. He advised Ahoskie Police that the karts were located on a second story porch of his business. Fitzhugh said it appeared someone had managed to climb onto the porch and then lowered the karts to the ground.

On Tuesday afternoon, APD Officer Randy Skinner was on routine patrol when he observed a go-kart occupied by three individuals being operated on North Catherine Street near Alton Street. Skinner stopped the kart and its occupants as they were entering a vacant lot near the railroad track. Harrell was summoned to the scene and identified the kart in which the teens were riding as one of the three stolen from his business last weekend.

Fitzhugh said the investigation continues into the actual theft. He praised the efforts of the officers involved in the case and thanked the citizens in the reporting the abandoned karts.