Robert Reed Initial Hearing Held in Starke Circuit Court

Posted on Author WKVI
Robert Reed

Robert Reed, of LaPorte, was in Starke Circuit Court last week where he pleaded not guilty to charges of Robbery, Receiving Stolen Property, and Resisting Law Enforcement as a Class D Felony and a Class A Misdemeanor charge.

The charges stem from an incident on May 22nd, 2011, when Robert Reed and Murriah Dailey allegedly stole items from Marvin Miller’s home. Police were alerted to the incident and they were found riding a motorcycle on State Road 10. An officer from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department attempted a traffic stop on County Road 750 West, they stopped and then took off and a pursuit began. The pursuit ended just past County Road 400 South. The motorcycle ran into soft dirt in a corn field and the pair fled from the motorcycle. A K9 unit was deployed and stopped Murriah Dailey, and Reed was detained by the K9 but later fled on foot. Dailey was in custody in the back of a North Judson Police car and she attempted to drive away in the car. The car was shot at and disabled and she was tased to gain compliance. She was taken to the Starke County Jail after she was medically cleared from IU Health Starke Hospital.

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Community Corrections Gets Approval to Proceed with Grant Application

Posted on Author WKVI
Robert Hinojosa

Starke County Community Corrections Director, Robert Hinojosa, appeared before the County Commissioners recently to request a letter approving a grant application for 2012. The grant is administered by the Department of Corrections and is for almost $188,000 of a $346,000 Community Corrections budget. The shortfall is made up from user fees. The letter was signed as requested.

One of the goals of the local Community Corrections organization is to become a level one program.

“There’s three levels,” explains Hinojosa. “If you are a level one program, that means that you have done a great job in adopting a lot of the practices, doing good case management work and identifying which service providers are effective, etc. If you are a level two, you are doing a good job but not exceptional and if you are a level three you’ve got some major problems in the way you run your program. The first year they instituted the level status was last year and we came in at a high level two and I was proud of that. We had really limited resources to do some of the things that we were asked to do. I believe that this application we’re submitting will get us to level one.”

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Knox Man Arrested on a Battery Charge

Posted on Author WKVI
Steven Gott

A Knox man was arrested after a battery incident on Monday.

The female victim, who is pregnant, went to the Starke County Sheriff’s Department to report a battery. She told police that she and Steven Gott had gotten into an argument earlier in the day and that police were called to the residence. Gott was told to leave the residence and to not return. He returned to the residence later in the day and the police arrived and gave Gott a second warning. The victim then went to her mother’s house to do laundry and Gott arrived at the residence. Gott and the victim started fighting and Gott allegedly put his hands around her throat, hit her in the head and threatened her life. He then left the residence.

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Knox CVS Robbed

Posted on Author WKVI
Knox CVS

The identity of a suspect arrested in connection with the robbery at CVS in Knox last night is still being withheld by Knox City Police.

Knox City Police responded to an armed robbery call at CVS at 9:18 p.m. An officer saw a vehicle leaving the scene at a high rate of speed and a traffic stop was initiated. The driver stopped, then backed into the police cruiser in an attempt to disable the vehicle. A pursuit began which lead into Marshall County. Both suspects abandoned the vehicle on Upas Road in Marshall County and one suspect was arrested. No further information was released by the Knox City Police Department and the robbery remains under investigation.

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Plymouth Man Pleads Not Guilty to Eight Charges in Starke Circuit Court

Posted on Author WKVI
Dale Hite

A Plymouth resident plead not guilty to eight charges in an incident that occurred in Starke County on October 16th, 2009.

Dale Hite appeared for his initial hearing in Starke Circuit Court Monday morning where he plead not guilty to two counts of Resisting Law Enforcement Resulting in Death, two counts of Reckless Homicide, and one count each of Resisting Law Enforcement, Possession of Methamphetamine, Failure to Stop at a Stop Sign and Failure to use Headlights from Sunset to Sunrise. His bond was set at $100,000 surety.

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Knox Man Indicted on Federal Charges

Posted on Author WKVI

A Knox man was charged in an indictment with accessing with the intent to view child pornography in South Bend’s U.S. District Court last week.

The Starke County Sheriff’s Department investigated allegations that 40-year-old Jeffrey Farmer was involved in a child molestation incident and officers obtained a federal search warrant to search his computer. Agents discovered images depicting child pornography. Charges were brought about as a result of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Custom Office of Homeland Security Investigations, Starke County Sheriff’s Department and the Hammand Police Department.

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Starke County Man Arrested on Warrant for Child Solicitation

Posted on Author WKVI
Stanford Baker

A Starke County man was arrested on a warrant for child solicitation on Monday.

Stanford Baker allegedly pulled up to his young female neighbor while in his pickup truck and she on her bike in October in the Grovertown area. He reportedly handed her a letter that contained sexual content. The Starke County Sheriff’s Department was contacted and a report was given to the Starke County Prosecutor where a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Knox Man Ejected From Vehicle During Crash

Posted on Author WKVI

Starke County Police responded to an accident call at 1:00 a.m. Monday morning that occurred at 4570 South and 100 East. Upon arrival, officers found a single vehicle and determined that the driver was 43-year-old Thomas Guy of Knox.

Guy had been ejected from the vehicle during the crash and was transported to I.U. Health-Starke Hospital where his condition was unknown yesterday.

It appeared to the responding officer that Guy was northbound on County Road 100 East when he came over a hill and lost control of his vehicle, leaving the roadway and striking a tree. Assisting the Sheriff’s Department were the Knox Police Department, Bass Lake-California Township Fire Department and Starke County EMS. Alcohol results are pending at this time.

Arson Suspected in Garage and House Fire in Knox

Posted on Author WKVI

An arson incident is being investigated in Knox.

Knox-Center Township Fire Department firefighters were called to a garage fire at 0020 N. 500 E. in Knox on Thursday, November 22nd. Firefighters discovered a fire along the back wall of the garage and it was quickly extinguished. The fire was ruled electrical/accidental. Firefighters were called to the same residence the next day and extinguished another fire that was located on the back wall of the garage near the location of the previous fire.

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Michael Allen Arrested after Making Alleged Threats

Posted on Author WKVI
Michael Allen

Michael Allen, of Winamac, was arrested on Friday, November 25th after he allegedly threatened a female victim and a police officer over the phone.

The victim was at the Starke County Sheriff’s Department making a complaint against Allen saying that he keeps calling her phone and harassing her. While she was talking to the Jail Deputy, the phone rang and the victim said it was Allen calling. The Jail Deputy answered the phone and identified himself as an employee of the Sheriff’s Department and Allen continued to speak to the jail deputy using vulgar language and threatening the life of the jail deputy. The victim then spoke with a police officer who explained the situation. The phone rang again and the officer answered, identified himself and Allen allegedly swore and threatened the life of the victim and her family. He threatened the officer when he called her phone again. The officer called him from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department and asked if he could speak with Michael Allen and he said that he wasn’t there, but he sounded just like the suspect. The officer asked for his address and he gave it to him, but when police arrived at the residence, he was gone.

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Counterfeit Money Found in Starke County

Posted on Author WKVI

Counterfeit $20 bills are circulating around the Starke County area.

Carla Musial from Demotte State Bank told WKVI that they’re the best that she’s seen. A Starke County merchant got one this weekend. While the bills look real, they will mark brown, not yellow, and the hologram is missing along with glitter on the bottom of the bills and a strip.

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Plymouth Man Arrested on Starke County Warrant

Posted on Author WKVI
Jason Cooke

Jason Cooke, of Plymouth, was recently arrested by Starke County police on a warrant and has been charged with Resisting Law Enforcement and two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance, all Class D Felonies.

The offense occurred on August 31st when Cooke allegedly fled from police after he initially told police to go around him while exiting the Grovertown Truck Stop. He reportedly waved the police to go around him and the officer decided that the driver didn’t want the officer to follow him and criminal activity may be involved. The driver then pulled away and drove east through the parking lot. The officer followed and started traveling east on U.S. 30 behind the vehicle. The car turned south on 1100 East and started to drive faster. The vehicle crossed the railroad tracks and went off the side of the road. The officer activated his emergency lights and attempted a traffic stop but the car kept going. The officer stated in his report that he followed the car until the car swerved into a corn field and went down the road until he saw the vehicle come out on the south end of the field. The vehicle stopped and the driver and passenger ran from the vehicle on foot. Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department and Knox City Police Department were unable to find the suspects.

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Two Arrested after Police Find Meth Labs

Posted on Author WKVI
Traci Jacobs
Richard Warner

Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department arrested two after one pot method meth labs were found in a residence in North Judson on Thursday.

Officers received information about the whereabouts of Traci Jacobs who was wanted on two warrants for Failure to Appear. A detective from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department contacted the bonds company and sent agents to 6190 S. 250 W. in North Judson. The agents said that they had Jacobs in custody as well as Richard Warner, of North Judson. They also notified the Sheriff’s Department that there were several pop bottles in the bedroom closet that appeared to be one pot meth labs.

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Starke County Woman Arrested after Lying to Police about Report

Posted on Author WKVI
Heather Wilson

Heather Wilson was arrested by officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday after she allegedly filed a false police report.

On November 11th, Wilson reportedly told police that a male subject asked her for jewelry and other items. She said that he came into the house, grabbed her, hit her in the face, and held up a knife to her before taking prescription medication that belonged to her mother. Wilson gave police a description of the suspect and said that he left the scene on foot. Wilson was later taken by ambulance to IU Health Starke Hospital for having a panic attack.

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Retired Cell Phones Still Activate 9-1-1 Calls

Posted on Author WKVI

Dispatchers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department want to remind you that even if you retire a cell phone and cancel service, often times that phone can still call out to 9-1-1 centers.

Some parents give their retired cell phone to children to play with but if that phone still has a functioning battery and that child “pretends” to call 9-1-1, chances are that phone call will ring into the Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff’s Department often receives these types of 9-1-1 calls and dispatchers can hear children and other people talking on the other end of the phone, but the caller is often not aware that they have actually dialed an emergency center. Dispatchers can not call the person back to determine if there is a real emergency because the phone has been disconnected from service and the number is not registered.

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Starke County Safety Traffic Partnership to Conduct Traffic Blitz

Posted on Author WKVI
police badge

The Starke County Traffic Safety Partnership will be conducting a Safe Family Travel patrol beginning this Friday and it will continue through November 27th.

This blitz is a grant from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and will focus on impaired drivers and seat belt enforcement. This grant will allow additional officers to enforce these laws and they will not be giving out warnings. They will be issuing tickets to those who are in violation of these laws.

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Demotte Man Injured in Single Vehicle Accident in Starke County

Posted on Author WKVI

Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department and emergency personnel were called to a personal injury accident on Saturday afternoon.

The accident occurred on Highway 421 south of San Pierre by the south junction of State Road 10. Carey Foley, 56, of Demotte, was traveling in that area when for some unknown reason, he passed out, left the roadway, hit a tree, hit a utility pole and then hit another tree and came to rest. Foley was pinned in the vehicle and the San Pierre and North Judson-Wayne Township Fire Departments were called to the scene to assist with extrication. Foley was airlifted from the scene to Memorial Hospital in South Bend and his condition is unknown at this time.

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Brett Kersey’s Case Goes to Trial

Posted on Author WKVI
Brett Kersey

Brett Kersey appeared in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday. The state submitted a plea offer, but it was rejected by the defense. Kersey’s attorney, Richard Ballard, will be taking the case to trial. Kersey is charged with Child Molesting, Rape, and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. He faces a potential sentence of 20-50 years in prison.

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LaPaz Man Arrested after Moped Accident in Koontz Lake

Posted on Author WKVI

A Lapaz man was arrested by Starke County police after his passenger suffered injuries in a single moped accident in the Koontz Lake area last night.

According to police, Donald Kissinger was traveling along County Road 1200 East on his moped and he told police that he swerved to miss a deer and lost control of the moped causing the passenger, Teresa Clark, to fall off the moped. When she fell off, she struck her head on the roadway. She was transported to Walkerton High School where a med flight took her to Memorial Hospital in South Bend where she remains in critical condition with a head injury.

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