A Ripley County man wanted in connection with the recent robbery of a Seymour auto parts store was arrested over the weekend.
Justin Dale Sparks, 29, of Aurora was caught early Saturday morning after a pursuit west of Bloomington, according to a news release from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.
Sparks was wanted on a Jackson Circuit Court warrant, issued Wednesday, on a Level 3 felony count of robbery resulting in bodily injury; a Level 6 felony charge for theft where the value of the property is between $750 and $50,000; and a Class A misdemeanor charge of battery resulting in bodily injury.
Those charges stem from an incident on Feb. 19 at the O’Reilly Auto Parts at 1111 E. Tipton St. in Seymour. At the time, Seymour Officer Jeremy Helmsing, a public information officer, said Sparks entered the store, grabbed items with a value of $801.92 and fled. He was chased by employees but was not caught that night.
The pursuit that led to Sparks’ arrest on Saturday began at about 12:45 a.m. when Seymour police contacted the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department with information Sparks might be driving a gold minivan in the area of the Harmony General Store in the 7500 block of West State Road 45.
A few minutes later a Monroe County officer spotted a person driving a gold van east on State Road 45 near Harmony Road. He then followed the van east on State Road 45 and then onto Dunlap Road when the driver started traveling at a high rate of speed, according to a news release from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.
The driver of that van, later identified as Sparks, disregarded that officer’s attempt to stop and then ran a stop sign which led to the pursuit involving several officers.
After driving around in circles for a few minutes, Sparks drove into the Solsberry area in eastern Green County before reentering western Monroe County, police said.
He eventually turned off of County Line Road onto Elwren Road which gave officers time to set up stop strips to disable the vehicle at Elwren Road and State Road 45, police said. The van was disabled when both front tires were deflated in seconds by the Stinger Spike Strips.
The motorist, later identified as Sparks, drove about a mile after hitting the stop strips and then left the vehicle at Cardwell Road and fled on foot.
Officers chased Sparks through the backyards of several homes before he was arrested and taken to the Monroe County Correctional Center on preliminary charges of operating while intoxicated, possession of a handgun without a license, two counts of resisting law enforcement and reckless driving.