The Starke County Traffic Safety Partnership will be conducting a Safe Family Travel patrol November 11th through November 27th.
This blitz is a grant from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and will focus on impaired drivers and seat belt enforcement.
Larry Clemons, of North Judson, was arrested on drug charges on Monday evening.
North Judson police officers, along with the officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department, were called to Judson Express after they received a call that a wanted person was at the business. The person whom they were looking for was not there, but they spotted Larry Clemons who was wanted on a Starke Circuit Court warrant. Officers conducted a search of his person and allegedly found him to be in possession of drugs.
Shelby Thomas appeared in Starke Circuit Court on Friday where he plead not guilty to three counts of Attempted Murder, four counts of Intimidation with a Deadly Weapon and three counts of Resisting Law Enforcement with a Deadly Weapon.
Thomas, of North Judson, was arrested on Sunday, October 16th after he allegedly threatened to kill a Knox man in the 1400 block of west 400 S. in Knox as he held a knife up against his throat. The man got away and Thomas was later questioned about the incident. When officers from the Knox City Police Department and the Starke County Sheriff’s Department asked Thomas to place his hands behind his back, his demeanor reportedly turned to anger. He then reached behind his back to remove a knife from his pants line and threatened the lives of two of the officers trying to place him into custody. The blade on the knife was 10 to 12 inches in length and Thomas reportedly began swinging the knife at the three officers and telling them, “I’m not going back to prison. You’ll have to kill me first.” Thomas was then tasered and officers were able to free the knife from Thomas’ hands. Thomas was tasered twice before he released the knife that he reportedly swung at the officers.
Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Starke County man, Sunday, after he allegedly attempted to stab two men.
Police were called to a residence in the 1400 block of 400 South where they found that Shelby G. Thomas, 56, threatened death to one of the victims by pressing a knife to the victim’s neck. As officers attempted to take Thomas into custody, he then pulled out a large knife and told police that he was not going back to prison. He was eventually taken into custody and transported to the Starke County Jail.
Starke County Sheriffs Department officers were called to a one vehicle roll-over accident on U.S. 35 north of State Road 8 (north) this morning.
The driver of the vehicle, Chantel Box, 25, of Knox, was northbound on U.S. 35 when she lost control of her vehicle causing it to go off the roadway and overturn on the eastside of U.S. 35.
A Knox High School student was killed in a single vehicle accident late Monday night.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department said that 17-year-old Andrew “Drew” Shearin was traveling eastbound on State Road 8 when for some unknown reason, his vehicle left the roadway and struck a NIPSCO utility pole. The accident occurred just east of the Yellow River Bridge. Starke County Sheriff’s Department officers and Washington Township Fire Department personnel found him trapped in the vehicle and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Starke County EMS and the Knox City Police Department assisted at the scene.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department responded to a dog attack call Thursday. When officers arrived on scene, at 2220 East 200 South in Knox, they saw Marshall Garlach had extensive injuries to his entire body after being attacked by two American Bulldogs.
Starke County Sheriff’s Department officers arrested a Knox and a North Judson resident Wednesday night after they were found to be in a residence in which they were not allowed.
Officers were called to a residence on 150 North where a woman taking care of the homeowner’s children tried to gain entry into the home to gather clothes for the children. When she put the key in the door, the door simply pushed open. She told officers that she locked the door before she left the home earlier in the day. When officers arrived on scene, they saw a different woman, Kristen Thompson, coming out of the home. She was asked if anyone else was in the home and she said Donnie Fletcher was in the home. Officers called for Fletcher to come out of the house and he didn’t answer. While searching the home, they heard a crash from the garage and found Fletcher standing on the stair platform. He was placed into custody. Police found methamphetamine related items and the finished product in the residence. A search warrant was issued to collect the items.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department was called to a one vehicle accident on State Road 39 on Tuesday.
A witness told police that he saw Vivianna Hernandez, 33, of Knox, southbound on State Road 39 near 200 South and she left the roadway, hit a mailbox and then hit a tree. Officers determined at the scene that she had been drinking at the time of the accident. She was taken to IU Health Starke Hospital for injuries sustained in the accident and for a blood draw to determine blood alcohol level. The results of that blood draw are pending.
Four Knox residents were arrested Friday morning after officers from the Knox City Police Department and the Starke County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at 202 W. Locust Drive in Knox.
Officers had received complaints about methamphetamine being used in the residence around small children and after an investigation, a search warrant was issued. Arrested were Ellis Clemons, 44, and Brandie Kotras, 33, who have preliminary charges of Possession of a Legend Drug and Maintaining a Common Nuisance. 25-year-old Tracie Young has preliminary charges of Possession of Marijuana and Maintaining a Common Nuisance. Steve Wilson, 40, was also arrested and he has preliminary charges of Possession of Marijuana, Maintaining a Common Nuisance and Failure to Register as a Sex Offender.
An officer from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Plymouth woman after a pursuit incident Tuesday afternoon.
A caller notified the Sheriff’s Department of an intoxicated driver leaving the area of 900 East and 300 North in Starke County. A detective was in the area and spotted the suspect vehicle and attempted to conduct a traffic stop but the vehicle failed to stop. The detective pursued the vehicle from 150 North and State Road 23 in Starke County to Plymouth and then to Culver. The driver stopped the vehicle after a minor vehicle accident in Marshall County on Tulip Road, just north of 14B road.
Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department were called to a single vehicle rollover Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 35 just north of 300 North.
The driver, Douglas Kline, 67, of Granger, Indiana, told police that he was traveling north on U.S. 35 and he must have dozed off. The vehicle left the roadway and flipped in a ditch on the west side of the road. Kline suffered minor injuries in the accident. He was transported to IU Health Starke Hospital for treatment.
Ryan Taylor and Kenneth K. Wallace will be in Starke Circuit Court today to face a charge of Arson as a Class D Felony. They will plead guilty or not guilty during their initial hearing this morning at 9:00 a.m. Continue reading
Starke County Sheriff’s Department officers got more than they bargained for when they served arrest warrants to Joseph and Melissa Dillard this week. Continue reading
Two men were arrested Tuesday after they were found to have set a vehicle on fire on the Gurley residence in Monterey.
Police were called after a witness saw a vehicle leaving the scene of a vehicle fire. Police approached the suspect vehicle and found Knox residents 35-year-old Ryan Taylor and 34-year-old Kenneth K. Wallace inside. The officer said that he was investigating a vehicle fire and told Taylor that it was his mother’s 2002 Pontiac Grand Am that was on fire. He said that the vehicle was in town at his grandmother’s house and it had been there for some time and it needed transmission work.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an accident that occurred Friday at 600 East and 700 North.
The accident involved a pickup truck and a moped. The driver of the moped, whose name has not been released by police, was taken to IU Health Starke Hospital and later airlifted by Med Flight to Memorial Hospital Trauma Center where he was listed in critical condition. The driver of the pickup truck was not injured in the accident.
The names of either individual have not been released. The Starke County Sheriff’s Department was assisted by the Hamlet Fire Department, Starke County EMS and the Koontz Lake Fire Department.
Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department apprehended a North Judson man after he was allegedly involved in a bar fight and ended up destroying a motel room Wednesday night in North Judson.
Police were called to the Route 10 Bar and Grill after an alleged fight had occurred between two individuals. The suspect, Danny Manns, left the premises. Police later found the suspect vehicle in the park and it was unoccupied. Police learned that the vehicle Manns was driving belonged to Joe Brown of Knox who said Manns should not have been in possession of the vehicle. Police searched the area and was unable to find Manns.
A Terre Haute man was arrested yesterday morning after police received a call of a possible burglary in the 400 block of 700 East in Knox. Officers from the Sheriff’s Department checked out the area and found four individuals in a gazebo just south of where the burglary had taken place.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an incident involving alleged neglected dogs.
According to officials at the Sheriff’s Department, a resident called police on Friday to report that her neighbor is neglecting her dogs. There were dogs inside the residence and no one had been around for days. A couple of days later, police received a call from a resident stating that her dog had been stolen and she believed her neighbor took the dog and sold it in Chicago. On Sunday, police went to the residence at 2230 East and 150 South in Knox, owned by Joanne Coronado. Officers obtained a search warrant and found 12 dogs inside the residence. They were removed from the premises and were released to the custody of the Starke County Humane Society. The health department was also called to the scene and after an investigation, condemned the residence.
Officers from the Kankakee Valley Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #129 participated in a Shop with a Cop event yesterday at ALCO in Knox. Chris Kisela, Knox City Police Officer and FOP President, talked about yesterday’s event:
“We’ve been doing fundraisers over the summer. We’ve raised over $2000 so far. We’ll take that $2000 and spend it on school clothes. The kids will have $100 each to buy school clothes for the upcoming school year,” said Kisela.
