Man pleads not guilty to burglary, other charges

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A West Jefferson man pleaded not guilty to felony charges Monday in connection with items law enforcement recovered after he led them on a high-speed chase last week.

Kristapher B. Davis, 25, of 330 S. Madison Ave., was indicted last Thursday on two counts of burglary with a firearm specification and one count each of safecracking, grand theft when the property is a firearm or dangerous ordnance with a firearm specification, petty theft, failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer with a firearm specification, carrying a concealed weapon and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle.

According to a court statement filed in the Champaign County Municipal Court, an officer with the Mechanicsburg Police Department was contacted by dispatch on May 4 to assist on a suspicious person call. A village resident informed dispatch that a suspicious person arrived at her door looking for gas for his car.

As the officer searched for the suspect, he was informed the suspect’s vehicle was in the driveway of a Rosedale Road residence. As a resident was talking to police, a black Chevrolet Malibu driven by Davis sped past them.

The officer attempted to initiate a traffic stop by activating his lights and sirens and reportedly saw Davis commit multiple traffic offenses including not stopping at a stop sign or using a turn signal as he turned left onto state Route 29 while traveling at a high rate of speed.

The pursuit continued through Apple Farm Service, 12446 state Route 29, where Davis stopped the vehicle in the parking lot an left on foot. Davis eventually was taken into custody after initially refusing to obey commands.

Upon conducting an inventory of the vehicle before it was towed, police found jewelry, money and an Iver Johnson Revolver, among other items. The items were identified as the same items that were reported missing by a resident who said his home was burglarized.

Davis’ bond was established at $50,000 and a motion to modify bond was denied on Monday.

Man pleads guilty to grand theft

A man accused of stealing items from multiple people within the city of Urbana pleaded guilty to four felony charges Monday.

Jeffrey A. Whitt, 29, pleaded guilty to charges of grand theft when the property is a firearm, possession of drugs, aggravated possession of drugs and violating a protection order during a plea hearing. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 9.

As part of the plea resolution, twelve charges against Whitt were dismissed. The charges stem from conduct that occurred on March 19 and 20.

Urbana police spent most of March 20 investigating complaints of overnight thefts from cars from the northwestern portion of the city.

At each scene, police recovered blood evidence as they thought the suspect possibly had been cut while stealing from the first vehicle and continued to bleed during the other crimes, leaving blood DNA at each scene.

They responded to a disturbance at the 68 Motel, 856 N. Main St., on that afternoon.

When officers went there to investigate they found that Whitt had rented a room for himself as well as three other people staying with him, in conflict with the rental agreement. One of the other people told officers that Whitt had just left the room prior to their arrival.

Inside the room, officers observed fresh blood in various places and learned that Whitt was bleeding. They also observed items listed as stolen from the car theft cases laying out in the room.

Whitt was taken into custody at gunpoint in the alleyway between the 200 block of East Church and Ward streets after a chase with Urbana police.

Whitt agreed to make restitution to the victims in the case as part of the plea resolution. A state’s exhibit detailing the victims in the case references items Whitt stole including GPS units, checkbooks with blank checks and a handgun among other items.

Davis
https://www.urbanacitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2016/05/web1_Davis.jpgDavis

By Nick Walton

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Nick Walton can be reached at 937-652-1331 Ext. 1777 or on Twitter @UDCWalton.

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