Four county residents have been arrested during the investigations of at least three recent auto thefts. After responding to a 1:40 am call of a suspicious vehicle near Co Rd 21 and Rd W on the morning of January 7th, Deputy Corey Gibson located a Ford Ranger pickup, which appeared to be wrecked, parked without lights on Rd W just west of Rd 24. He observed two men run from the pickup and into a nearby farmyard. Deputy Gibson pursued the men on foot and was able to catch one, David L. Amen, age 21 of Fort Morgan, and take him into custody. The Ranger had been reported stolen to the Fort Morgan Police Department on December 21st. Footprints indicated there had been at least one more person in the Ranger as well. A short time later, Deputy Chris Griggs contacted a vehicle nearby to see if the driver may have seen anyone in the area. The driver told Deputy Griggs his passenger had just come to his house looking for a ride. Griggs asked the passenger to step from the vehicle and immediately became involved in a physical confrontation with that subject. Deputy Griggs was forced to use his Taser to take this subject, Samuel Palasty, age 22, of Log Lane Village, into custody. Both men are being held on felony Aggravated Motor Vehicle Theft and Trespass of agricultural property charges. Amen was also charged with Obstructing Police and two outstanding warrants and he subsequently posted $15000 in bonds. Palasty was also charged with Resisting Arrest and remains in custody on $5000 bond. A few hours later, deputies responded to the 20000 Blk of Rd 24 and investigated the theft of a 2008 GMC Canyon pickup. An unknown suspect entered a shop building which was approximately a mile from where the Ford Ranger was recovered, and stole the pickup,. At approximately 11:40 pm on Wednesday evening January 15th deputies were dispatched to the 21000 Blk of Rd U.5 in reference to a suspicious person knocking on the door of a residence there. While deputies were checking the area, they found the GMC Canyon pickup stolen on January 7th, wrecked a short distance away. An hour later, deputies contacted a maroon Chrysler Pacifica on Co Rd T.5 and Rd 22, approximately a mile from where the stolen pickup was found. During this contact one of the occupants identified himself as Brad Michael and deputies felt he was untruthful as to his real name. Later Deputy Chad Nicaise was able to identify “Brad Michael” as Kasey J. Blake, age 20, of Fort Morgan. Blake had an outstanding felony warrant for failure to appear on felony assault and menacing charges as well as a State Patrol warrant for Driving Under Suspension. Just after 5:30 am Thursday morning, Deputy Nicaise observed a vehicle westbound on Co Rd R just east of Fort Morgan and clocked it speeding 67mph in a 40 mph zone. As the vehicle passed him he saw it was the Pacifica and the driver sped up trying to elude the deputy. The Pacifica pulled into the yard of a private residence and two males ran from the vehicle. Deputy Nicaise chased and arrested the passenger, Tanner N. Turnbull, age 21. Turnbull was taken to the Morgan County Jail and held on Obstructing Police and Resisting Arrest charges. Kasey Blake was identified as the driver and but was not found during a search by deputies and officers from Fort Morgan Police and Colorado State Patrol. About two hours after that initial arrest, responded to 20388 Rd R on a 911 “hang-up” call. They received information Blake was hiding at that residence and he was soon located hiding in the basement. Blake was taken into custody without further incident and taken to the Morgan County Jail. He is being held on $10,000 bond on the initial failure to appear, $2000 on the State Patrol warrant and held without bond on new charges of Vehicular Eluding, Criminal Impersonation, Identity Theft, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, Obstructing Police, Resisting Arrest and other traffic charges. Deputies are investigating the involvement of Blake and Turnbull and others in the theft of the Canyon pickup as well as another stolen vehicle which had been recovered several days prior just a short distance away from the site of the arrests Thursday morning. A reddish-maroon Toyota Tacoma pickup stolen from Sterling on September 18th was located by the Fort Morgan Police Department on January 3rd parked in a barn at a vacant residence. Anyone who may have information on the auto theft cases is asked to call Investigator Kelvin Bernhardt at 970-867-2461.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 20:50:36 +0000
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