A Jackson County man who pleaded guilty to stealing a truck and a van and then trying to hide from police in June 2014 could spend as many as eight years in prison.
Joshua David Jones, 26, of Seymour, received three separate sentences from Senior Jackson Circuit Judge Bill Vance after agreeing to plead guilty to a Class C felony count of auto theft and Class D felony charges of resisting law enforcement and receiving stolen property.
Vance ordered Jones to serve eight years for the theft conviction and three years each for the other two convictions. Those sentences are to be served at the same time.
The plea agreement stems from a June 14 incident when Jackson County Reserve Officer Scott Davis reported he had found a green Chevrolet Astro van parked at Jackson Park Shopping Center in the 1200 block of East Tipton Street. That van had reportedly been stolen from an unattached garage in Brownstown, according to the probable cause affidavit.
As Davis was checking the license plate information, the van, later found to be driven by Jones, took off at a high rate of speed through the shopping center’s parking lot.
Jones attempted to get away from Davis by driving west on East Oak Street.
Davis said during the pursuit, Jones tried to slam on his brakes to cause Davis’ police car to rear-end him.
The pursuit ended when Jones drove into a private driveway northwest of county roads 850E and 200N, through a soybean field and into a wooded area before running into a tree.
Jones, along with two other people, Nicholas Ryan Garrett and Aaron Ward, both of Seymour, got out of the van and ran into the woods. Davis was able to capture Garrett, and Ward was captured later the same evening, police said. Both were charged with resisting law enforcement, and those cases have since been decided.
Jones was able to evade police until June 15, when Seymour police officers were called to a residence at 120 E. Laurel St. to investigate a report of a stolen blue 1983 Ford truck with a four-wheeler in the bed parked in an alleyway, according to Cpl. Brandon White with the Seymour Police Department.
White said police set up a perimeter around the residence and eventually went inside where Jones was found hiding behind a stool, a dishwasher and a shelf.
Items found around the couch where Jones slept included a bow, a GPS, knives, loose change, a camouflage jacket, a baseball cap and flashlights. Those items, along with the truck and four-wheeler, were determined to be stolen property all from the same place, police said.
Jones was arrested and taken to the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown.
Vance gave him 219 days credit and 219 days credit time for days spent incarcerated prior to sentencing.
As part of the plea agreement, the state agreed to drop seven additional charges that had been pending against Jones.