A 36-year-old Marion County man faces more than a half dozen criminal charges related to an incident Wednesday in which the motorcycle he had been driving on Interstate 65 caught fire near Seymour.
Jerry Ray Jones was booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown at 10:01 a.m. on felony charges of dealing in methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a syringe. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of driving while suspended and is being held on warrants for possession of a syringe and a parole violation.
The incident that led to Jones’ arrest on County Road 1000E by Indiana State Police troopers Seth Davidson and Andrew Garrett began at about 7:45 a.m. as Jones was driving a Suzuki motorcycle southbound on the interstate, according to a news release from Sgt. Stephen Wheeles with the Versailles Post.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryWheeles said Jones pulled the motorcycle into the southbound scales near the 51-mile-marker after it became disabled.
At some point while he was working on the motorcycle, it caught fire, Wheeles said. Troopers responding to that incident could not find Jones when they arrived at the scene, but construction workers in the area told police Jones had left the area walking westbound across a field.
When Davidson and Garrett found and identified Jones, they searched a bag he was carrying and found a loaded handgun, approximately 120 grams of suspected methamphetamine, suspected Xanax, syringes and approximately $1,600 in cash.
Jones was arrested and taken to the jail, where he was being held pending his initial court appearance in Jackson Circuit Court.
Trooper Randel Miller and officers with the Seymour Police Department assisted in the investigation and arrest of Jones, while firefighters with Redding Township Volunteer Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire.