AUSTIN — Two Rochester women charged with stealing more than $2,000 of electronics from Walmart pleaded not guilty Thursday in Mower County District Court.

Natasha Duellman, 34, and Beth Marie Hansen, 25, face several criminal charges stemming from the alleged Walmart theft and a high-speed chase. Hansen, who is still in custody, is scheduled for a jury trial beginning Oct. 3. Duellman’s jury trial is set to start Oct. 24.

According to a court complaint, Austin police received a report of two women leaving Walmart without paying for more than $2,000 of electronics items, including a flat-screen television, around 3:30 a.m. Saturday, July 30.

An officer heading west on Interstate 90 spotted the women’s vehicle and pursued.

Officers used lights and sirens in an attempt to stop the vehicle at mile marker 172, but the car continued to exit 166 and onto County Road 46. The SUV eventually hit spike strips laid on the road by a Mower County sheriff’s deputy. The strips punctured the right, front tire of the vehicle, but the suspects continued down the 2700 block of West Oakland Avenue at 80 mph, according to a court complaint.

The chase went through town, with the women eventually driving over a curb and into a large field near Fourth Street SE.

Duellman and Hansen allegedly ran from the vehicle and into the woods, where officers lost sight of Duellman.

Hansen was found in a grove of trees and was bit by the police K-9 before being arrested. As Hansen was being led out of the field, she allegedly spit in an officer’s face, causing him to use pepper spray.

Police seized the missing electronics from the vehicle. They also found a digital scale, a methamphetamine pipe, a vial testing positive for cocaine and two containers with marijuana residue, the court complaint states.

Hansen told police Duellman gave her pills, possibly ephedrine, that caused her to “black out.” She denied knowledge of being in the Austin Walmart Saturday morning. Duellman told police they were likely under the influence of meth while in Walmart, and during the police chase Hansen, who was driving, allegedly ingested meth out of Duellman’s hand. Hansen’s license is revoked for two past convictions of driving under the influence, according to the court complaint.

Duellman told police she and Hansen spent the hours before the chase shopping in Rochester, as it was Hansen’s goal to “blow up” her checking account and report her checks stolen. While Duellman pushed the cart full of electronics to the car in the Walmart parking lot, Hansen reportedly told a cashier she forgot her checkbook in her car and needed to get it. At that point, the women allegedly left without paying.