Cook County Court records indicate that William Blankenship III was arrested on Aug. 23 on two counts of Residential Burglary, Theft of a Coin Operated Machine and Possession of a Controlled Substance. He is in the Cook County Jail on $100,000 bond.
He allegedly entered into two different homes in Lyons, Ill. which happens to be the town in which he lists as his current address.
William Blankenship III, 22, of Knox, was in Porter County Superior Court 1 in Valparaiso yesterday for his initial hearing.
Porter County Prosecutor Brian Gensel has formally charged Blankenship with Escape as a Class C Felony, plus Auto Theft, Fleeing Law Enforcement, and Criminal Mischief as Class D Felonies. Blankenship pleaded not guilty to all charges and bond was set at $25,000 cash or surety.
Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford’s court has scheduled an omnibus hearing for Blankenship on May 7th, a pre-trial hearing on June 4th and his jury trial is set for July 9th at 1:00 p.m. in Porter County Superior Court 1.
The Porter County Prosecutor has filed one count of Theft against Knox resident William Blankenship III. Prosecutor Brian Gensel said that more charges could be filed once all of the reports from the investigation come into his office.
Blankenship allegedly drove a Kouts police car away from the Family Express in Kouts Tuesday night. Kouts police Sgt. Dave Johnston placed a handcuffed Blankenship into the back seat of the police car and left the car to gather evidence in Blankenship’s vehicle. Blankenship then got into the driver’s seat of the police vehicle and drove away from the scene. The vehicle was found wrecked and submerged in a ditch in LaPorte County on Wednesday. Blankenship had been on the run since Tuesday and finally turned himself into police Thursday night.
The Knox man who reportedly stole a Kouts police car has surrendered to police.
William Blankenship III surrendered to two Indiana State Police troopers from the Lowell Post last night. Master Trooper Kevin Murphy assigned to the U.S. Marshall Task Force and Senior Trooper Jerry Michalak assigned to the FBI Task Force met Blankenship and his family at a residence in Knox where he surrendered. Cooperation from his family members made his surrender possible.
Blankenship was taken into custody and is incarcerated in the Porter County Jail.
William Blankenship III, 22, of Knox, remains at large, after he allegedly stole a police car Tuesday night, wrecked it and put it into a ditch.
Blankenship was under arrest by Kouts police on drug related charges following a traffic stop at the Family Express station at the intersection of State Road 8 and State Road 49 in Kouts. The arresting officer placed Blankenship in the back seat of the patrol car while the officer took inventory of Blankenship’s car. It was then when Blankenship allegedly got into the driver’s seat and drove from the scene.
