WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A man wanted for thefts of bicycles, an adult sex toy, cash from a hotel, and other thefts is spotted by a police officer at a gas station on Seymour Highway Monday afternoon and breaks free from the officer’s grasp and takes off running.

According to an affidavit, police said Austin Bursey, 26, eluded officers and they lost him as he ran toward Lucy Park. As they set up a perimeter and prepared to launch a drone, they said a passing citizen told them a man had run across Seymour Highway into a backyard on Kings Highway.

As they approached, they said Bursey came out of hiding and ran, and he was taken into custody.

Bursey was wanted on warrants alleging he cut the chain of a Walmart employee’s bike and stole it on May 2 and cut the chain and stole another bike at an apartment on Taft on May 13. Both thefts were recorded on surveillance cameras and police identified the suspect as Bursey.

Bursey has eight other cases filed including theft of a $170 sex toy from Adam & Eve on Wayne, tools from Home Depot, cash from the front desk of a hotel, and $1,500 worth of gold rings from a downtown store, some of which were sold in March 2022 at a gold exchange store.

In April 2022, police shared photos of the suspect in the Adam & Eve theft and the next day the gold exchange called police to report Bursey was back. Police confronted Bursey with the photo of the Adam & Eve theft and said Bursey agreed the photo resembled him, but was not him.

Bursey now has 10 cases pending in Wichita County.