INCIDENTS
City:
Thursday, 4:35 p.m., CVS Pharmacy, 1203 S. Main St. Customer dropped a small plastic bag containing a white crystalline substance inside the store. Whoever it was that dropped it was no longer in the store.
Thursday, 4:50 p.m., Hi Lo Drive resident reported his son wrecked a car on Ind. 116 and Ind. 124. Now it appears that the brakes of the vehicle may have been tampered with prior to the wreck.
Thursday, 6:38 p.m., residence in the 200 block of Wasau Court. Caller reported her son 2004 Mazda without her permission.
Thursday, 6:43 p.m., Lowe’s Home Improvement parking lot. While patrolling northbound on Main Street, a sheriff’s deputy decided to perform a license plate check on a Jeep Compass ahead of him. The information the deputy received back was that the registered owner, Lakia Ray Via, 22, Fort Wayne, had a suspended driver’s license. The deputy pulled the vehicle over in the parking lot of Lowe’s and arrested Via on one count of driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor. She was released on her own recognizance. Via’s license reportedly has an indefinite suspension for repeat insurance violations. Her prior conviction was in Allen County Superior Court Oct. 19, 2020.
Thursday, 7:01 p.m., person came to the Bluffton Police Department to report her 12-year-old was being blackmailed over a photo.
Thursday, 10:09 p.m., Praxis, 1529 W. Lancaster St. Officers, Bluffton Fire Department first responders and Wells County EMS dispatched for a rehab patient suffering from a medical issue.
Friday, 4:27 a.m., Spring Street at Main Street. Sheriff’s deputy noticed a vehicle southbound on Clark Avenue with no taillights. The driver attempted a left turn onto Spring Street and reportedly overshot the turn, nearly striking a wooden post. The driver of the vehicle then backed up and started to head east on Spring Street. The sheriff’s deputy then turned on the flashing lights of his patrol vehicle, but the vehicle ahead of him sped up. Reportedly speeds reached as high as 75 mph before the vehicle crashed, without braking, into the back of a sport utility vehicle stopped at the traffic light at Spring and Main Street. The impact was so forceful that it propelled the stopped vehicle across the intersection onto the opposite side east of Main Street. The impact brought the vehicle that was allegedly fleeing to a stop. Bluffton Fire Rescue and Wells County EMS responded to the scene. The driver of the sport utility vehicle that was hit from behind was checked out by medics as were the driver of the vehicle that was allegedly fleeing the deputy and his female passenger. All declined transport to the hospital, however the driver of the alleged fleeing vehicle was taken by the deputy to Bluffton Regional Medical Center as the deputy observed in his report he appeared to be under the influence of an illegal substance. A blood draw was also performed at the hospital. The alleged fleeing driver reportedly admitted to the deputy he had been “taking drugs to keep everyone alive.” The deputy decided to pursue a warrant for the man’s arrest. The incident remains under investigation and no further details were available.
FIRES
Friday, 7:50 a.m., driveway of the Mike Fancher residence, 3053E-1050N, Ossian. Chevrolet Trailblazer caught on fire. Ossian Fire Department dispatched. Fancher had the fire extinguished using a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived.
ARRESTS
Joshua Daniel Harrison, 34, Bluffton; probation violation. No bond set. He was also charged with theft of a vehicle with a prior conviction for the same or a similar offense and operating a motor vehicle after having been found to be an habitual traffic violator, both Level 6 felonies. Bond set at $55,000 on those two charges.
TICKETS
Jonas Gerber, 23, rural Berne; cited Nov. 13, 2021, for hunting deer with the aid of bait, 8491W-750S, Warren.
