INCIDENTS
City:
Friday, 3:42 p.m., person came to the Bluffton police department to report being tricked into buying gift cards for a scammer.
Friday, 4:16 p.m., residence in the 500 block of West Miller Street. Report of an unwanted man at the residence. Officers responded and ended up arresting Kevin M. Plummer, rural Decatur, on a warrant out of Adams County Superior Court on one count of failure of a sex offender to register, a Level 6 felony.
Friday, 8:14 p.m., Wells County Historical Society, 420 W. Market Street. Report of a young man at the historical society making incoherent statements and throwing his hands in the air. Officer responded, but the man was gone.
Friday, 8:29 p.m., Wabash Village apartments, 401 E. State St. report of a young man rambling and difficult to understand. Officer responded and spoke with the man who said he would stay inside his apartment.
Friday, 8:36 p.m., Bluffton-Harrison Middle School, 1500 Stogdill Road. Report of a car alarm set off by someone trying to get into a vehicle. Officer responded. Woman reported her children tried to get into the wrong van and set off the alarm by accident.
Friday, 10:26 p.m., Praxis substance abuse treatment facility. Caller reported a woman left the facility high on illegal substances. Officer searched the area but saw no one matching the description.
Saturday, 11:10 a.m., The Cellular Connection, 2133 N. Main Sty. Burglar alarm. Officers responded. Alarm accidentally tripped.
Saturday, 11:44 a.m., residence in the 500 block of South Bond Street. Caller reported gun stolen from residence.
Saturday, 6:23 p.m., residence in the 900 block of South Market Street. Caller reported that it appeared as if someone had ransacked the vacant residence.
Saturday, 6:27 p.m., Walnut Hills mobile home park, 80 Sunset Drive. Report of a fight between a man and a woman at a mobile home. Officers responded. Shelly K. Bonsack, 57, of that residence, was arrested on one count of domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor. Bond was set at $25,000.
Saturday, 10:06 p.m., residence in the 400 block of North Marion Street. Report that a group of boys exited a vehicle and started to walk up the Wabash Central Railroad tracks. Officers located the boys and warned them for being on the railroad trestle.
Sunday, 12:39 a.m., Parlor City Plaza. Report of a homeless man sleeping on one of the benches. Officer responded but the man was gone.
Sunday, 1:12 a.m., North Main Street south of Division Street. Bluffton police officer pulled over a vehicle and arrested the driver, Stephen Christopher Rice Jr., 48, Fort Wayne, on one count of operating a motor vehicle while never having been issued a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor. He was released on his own recognizance.
Sunday, 2:15 a.m., sheriff’s deputy saw a vehicle pull off Lancaster Street into the parking lot of Lancaster Park. A young man and woman got out of the vehicle, climb to the top of the sledding hill, spread out blankets and watch something on their phones. The deputy, joined by a second deputy, spoke with both juveniles, took the girl back home, had the boy drive home and spoke with the parents of both teens about violation of curfew.
Sunday, 8:09 a.m., Pine Grove apartments. Burglar alarm in the front lobby meeting room. Officers responded. No sign of foul play found.
Sunday, 5:03 p.m., residence in the 800 block of Williams Street. Deputy served a warrant for arrest on Joseph Oren Coty, 35, Bluffton, on charges of resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor; sniffing or inhaling toxic vapors, a Class B misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a Class B misdemeanor. Bond set at $3,500.
Sunday, 6:33 p.m., Washington Park, 710 S. Mulberry St. Officers requested to head off a brewing fight between juveniles. Officers informed the youth that if the police department received anymore calls, they would be asked to leave the park.
Monday, 5:58 a.m., Hi Lo Drive area. Caller reported seeing two people cutting across yards in the housing addition. Officer checked the addition but saw no one matching the description given.
Monday, 12:20 p.m., parks department gazebo at the trailhead of the Rivergreenway Trail. Someone left a used hypodermic syringe behind at the pavilion. Officer collected it and disposed of it.
County:
Friday, 5:46 p.m., residence on 900S west of 700W in Jackson Township. Warrant for arrest out of Huntington County Superior Court served on Benjamin Herr, of that address, for violating probation from an April 20, 2021, conviction for operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Level 6 felony.
Friday, 6:05 p.m., Ind. 3 at 800S. Sheriff’s deputy clocked a southbound motorcycle at 120 mph-55 zone and tried to chase after it. That made the motorcycle rider accelerate even faster and after turning onto Ind. 18 from Ind. 3, the cycle rider sped up to speeds exceeding 150 mph. The chase was terminated for public safety reasons.
Friday, 6:27 p.m., 200S at Meridian Road. Wheel fell off a vehicle. Sheriff’s deputy responded. Someone brought lug nuts to put the wheel back on.
Friday, 7:22 p.m., Silo Farms mobile home park, 11080N-Ind. 1. Report of a large fight between family members. Sheriff’s deputies responded. Situation calmed, parties separated.
Friday, 9:12 p.m., wooded area on 900S west of 800W. Caller reported capturing images on her trail camera of a trespasser in her woods.
Saturday, 7:32 p.m., 600W north of Markle. Sheriff’s deputy assisted a motorist whose vehicle ran out of gas.
Saturday, 8:48 p.m., Ind. 1 at 800N. Sheriff’s deputy pulled over a 2006 Ford Mustang after observing it did not have a working license plate light and arrested the driver, Paulo David Marroquin Gonzalez, 20, Fort Wayne, for operating a motor vehicle while never having been issued a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor. He was released on his own recognizance.
Sunday, 1:34 a.m., U.S. 224 at 450E. Report of a vehicle “doing donuts” in the roadway. The vehicle then went to a nearby residence. Sheriff’s deputy responded, located the vehicle and spoke to the driver and his passenger.
Sunday, 2:12 p.m., residence in Tocsin. An 11-year-old boy called 911 to complain that his grandmother had hit him on the butt with a book for being disobedient and swearing at her. Sheriff’s deputy responded and told the boy he needed to be more respectful of his parents and grandparents.
Sunday, 11:34 p.m., residence on the Wells County/Huntington County line near Markle. Caller reported hearing suspicious activity at the residence and believed someone might be stealing items from it. Sheriff’s deputies dispatched top assist Huntington County sheriff’s deputies and Markle police. The vehicle reportedly fled and tried driving through a standing field of soybeans on 1100N near 400W before being stopped by a Huntington County sheriff’s deputy. Reportedly in the bed of the truck were several pieces of laminate wood flooring, a door, a roll of insulation, a black Carhartt style coat, some light fixtures in boxes, and a kitchen sink. The cab of the truck contained several individual circuit breakers from an electrical panel, some baseball hats, a crow bar, a screwdriver, and a Dewalt impact driver. The residence where the items had reportedly been stolen from had been damaged by a small excavator. The incident remains under investigation by the Huntington County Sheriff’s Department.
FIRE RUNS
Friday, 1:23 p.m., Donald R. Hartley residence, 10301SE-Jeff Road. Caller reported cab of a truck on fire. Chester Township Fire Department dispatched and Montpelier Fire Department dispatched for mutual aid. The truck was engulfed when firefighters arrived 15 minutes later. The fire was under control at 2:05 p.m.
Friday, 5:24 p.m., Utz Quality Foods, 705 W. Dustman Rd. carbon monoxide detector alarm sounding. Bluffton Fire Department dispatched. Alarm malfunctioned.
Sunday, 10:38 p.m., Ind. 1 at 1100N. Small grass fire. Ossian Fire Department dispatched. Ossian police officer arrived first and doused the small fire.
ARRESTS
Victor Patrick Kirk Bell, 27, Angola; failure of a sex offender to register, a Level 5 felony. Bond set at $60,000
Cole M. Sands, 37, Ossian; probation violation. No bond set.
Hannah Diane Ragan, 19, Ossian; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor. Bond set at $1,500.
