INCIDENTS
City:
Friday, 2:06 p.m., Bargain Hut, 120 W. Spring St. Report that a man had been inside the store and had urinated on the floor in front of women and children. Information taken for a report.
Friday, 4:17 p.m., McDonald’s restaurant, 984 N. Main St. Report of two men arguing loudly. The men left before officers arrived.
Friday, 4:50 p.m., residence in the 500 block of South Marion Street. Kain Vaughn arrested on a warrant out of Allen County for felon carrying a handgun wherein the defendant has a prior felony conviction; operating a vehicle while intoxicated or on a controlled substance with a passenger under the age of 18, a Level 6 felony; driving while suspended with a prior conviction within the past 10 years, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Friday, 6:30 p.m., Wells County Public Library, 200 W. Washington St. Report of 10 to 12 juveniles on bicycles creating a traffic hazard and swearing at vehicle drivers. Officers dispatched but the youth had dispersed.
Friday, 11:55 p.m., NEOTI, 910 W. Lancaster St. Burglar alarm. Officers responded. Alarm triggered accidentally by an employee.
Saturday, 4:28 a.m., 800 block of Helen Drive, Bluffton Woods mobile home park. Caller reported that a man was walking door-to-door and knocking on doors. He appeared to be confused. Officer responded, located the man and walked him to the correct residence.
Saturday, 7:34 a.m., residence in the 200 block of Hickory Knoll Drive in the Willowbrook addition. Caller reported that an aggressive dog had a woman trapped on a trampoline in her pajamas in the backyard of a residence. As officers arrived, the dog jumped a fence and returned to its home. Information was taken for a report.
Saturday, 8:24 a.m., Arts Commerce and Visitors Center, 211 W. Water St. Burglar alarm. Officers responded. Alarm accidentally tripped.
Saturday, 2:28 p.m., Bluffton Regional Medical Center, 303 S. Main St. Officer requested to assist with an unruly overdose patient in the emergency room of the hospital.
Saturday, 5:50 p.m., residence in the 200 block of West South Street. Loud verbal altercation between a man and a woman over personal property. Officers responded. Situation calmed. Female half retrieved property without further incident.
Saturday, 8:28 p.m., Valley Park Apartments, 320 W. Dustman Road. Officers assisted medics with an intoxicated man at the apartments.
Saturday, 8:52 p.m. Wabash Street at Indiana Street. Report of five juveniles on bicycles refusing to yield to traffic. Officers responded and located the juveniles at the Wabash Street Pak-A-Sak convenience store. He told them to be more mindful of traffic when riding their bikes.
Saturday, 9:32 p.m., residence in the 300 block of West Wabash Street. Deputy overheard a loud verbal altercation between a woman and her son. Situation calmed.
Saturday, 9:50 p.m., Bluffton Police Department, 204 E. Market St. Someone abandoned a bicycle at the front door of the building.
Sunday, 3:32 a.m., Premier Flats, 210 Premier Ave. Loud verbal altercation between a man and a woman. The woman was driving a car and the man was clinging to the top of it. Officers responded, but the activity had ceased and the two had reportedly gone inside an apartment for the night.
Sunday, 7:24 a.m., Ellingham Pike south of Farmington Drive. Several reports of cows and donkeys in the road. Officers responded. The livestock were rounded up and returned to their owner.
Sunday, 2:34 p.m., residence on Meadow Lane on Bluffton’s west side. Hand \gun stolen from bedroom.
Sunday, 8:14 p.m., residence in the 600 block of Cedar Road, Bluffton Woods mobile home park. Caller reported someone stole his personal information via Facebook.
Sunday, 9:53 p.m., residence in the 100 block of Wasau Court. Caller reported he was attacked by his son. Officers dispatched.
Monday, 2:30 a.m., Stag Bar, 205 W. Market St. Burglar alarm. Officers responded. No sign of foul play found.
Monday, 8:56 a.m., Rivergreenway east of 400E. Report of a small, injured raccoon on the Rivergreenway. Wells County Animal Control contacted.
Monday, 10:43 a.m., Lancaster Estates mobile home park, 1211 W. Lancaster St. Caller reported money and cellphones stolen from mobile home.
Monday, 11:35 a.m., 911 hang-up call from 1st Source Bank, 124 S. Main St. Officers responded. Call was made accidentally.
County:
Friday, 1:11 a.m., Ind. 218 at 300W. Car slid off the road.
Friday, 2:22 a.m., Ind. 124 at 800E. Report of a pickup truck pulled off to the side of the road with its engine running and lights on for the past couple hours. Deputies responded and discovered that the driver, identified as Isaiah Elias Marshall, 27, Bluffton, was passed out at the steering wheel. After deputies repeatedly tried to get Marshall to awaken and turn off the truck, he finally did so. The officers then noticed that the pickup truck had heavy front end damage. Through further investigation it was discovered that Marshall was the chief suspect in a hit-and-run crash on the street where he lives. See ACCIDENTS. Reportedly Marshall’s blood alcohol concentration equivalency was .166 percent at the time of his arrest, or twice Indiana’s legal limit for intoxication of .08 percent. Upon questioning, Marshall reportedly told a deputy he had been on his way to his workplace at Bluffton Regional Medical Center and thought he was on Wiley Avenue. He later then said he was on Ind. 124. He reportedly had no recollection of having been in a traffic accident.
Friday, 8:35 a.m., residence on 1100S west of 700W in Jackson Township. Caller reported two pitbulls entered his barn the prior evening and killed a cat.
Friday, 8:46 a.m., Mossburg Cemetery, 550W at 100S. Report that a Jeep Compass with a man and a woman inside had been parked at the back of the cemetery all night. The complaining party had observed the Jeep in the cemetery the prior day and had spoken with the female who claimed to have relatives buried in the cemetery. Deputies responded and located the vehicle. There was a tent behind the Jeep and several bags of trash. As one of the deputies approached, he reported finding a woman slumped over the center console of the Jeep. The woman, identified as Rachel L. Thompson, 42, Union City, reportedly appeared intoxicated and declined to tell deputies who she was. The man who had been seen by the caretaker earlier was reportedly in the tent behind the Jeep. He was identified as Glenn E. Osborne, 58, rural Ridgeville. Reportedly the vehicle contained numerous items that would indicate that Thompson had possibly been living out of the vehicle, which was registered to a couple from North Carolina. During the course of the investigation, deputies also allegedly found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Both Thompson and Osborne reportedly appeared to be intoxicated. Osborne was charged with possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor. Thompson was charged with resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of a handgun without a license, a Level 5 felony; possession of marijuana , a Class B misdemeanor; possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor; operating a motor vehicle after having been found to be an habitual traffic violator, a Level 6 felony; and criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor. Bond for Osborne was set at $7,000. Bond for Thompson was set at $24,500.
Friday, 3:43 p.m., 200S at 300W. Deputy pulled over a vehicle after noticing that the trailer it was towing was about to lose one its tires off a rim.
Friday, 9:34 p.m., I-69 in the short section in Wells County. Sheriff’s deputy assisted a motorist towing a camper with a flat tire.
Friday, 10:50 p.m., residence on Meridian Road near 200S. Caller reported someone in a white Chevrolet Impala drove up his driveway. He heard a loud noise that sounded like a door shutting. The vehicle then left, circled back around, drove past his house and then headed toward Ind. 1. A state police trooper got behind the vehicle and initiated a traffic stop on Ind. 1 just south of 200S. Bluffton police officers provided assistance with the traffic stop. During the course of a free-air sniff, the trooper’s K-9 partner reportedly located a box stuck to the underside of the vehicle that contained a pack filled with a white rock-like substance that appeared to be methamphetamine. A second zip-top bag of a white rock-like substance was allegedly located hidden inside a panel on the driver’s side door. The back seat cushion reportedly was removable and several bags of a green leafy material with the odor and appearance of marijuana were reportedly found under the seat. Reportedly there was other evidence in the vehicle of secret compartments. The passenger, Tobias Duane Bellar, 42, Albany, was arrested on charges of dealing methamphetamine, a Level 4 felony; dealing methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; and possession of a controlled substance, a Class C misdemeanor. Bond set at $41,500. The driver, identified as Destinie Maree Puckett, 19, Bluffton, was charged with dealing in methamphetamine, a Level 4 felony; dealing in methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor. Her bond was set at $37,000. Puckett reportedly admitted to the investigating deputy that she and Bellar had pulled into the driveway of the residence to change drivers and what the original complaining party may have heard was the door to the vehicle closing.
Saturday, 12:21 a.m., residence on Main Street in Petroleum. Sheriff’s deputies responded to the residence on a report of a loud verbal altercation between a man and a woman. As a deputy spoke with the man, he reportedly barricaded himself in the garage of the residence. The man and the woman were separated and information was taken for a report.
Saturday, 11:41 p.m., U.S. 224 westbound from 600E. Caller reported a vehicle was swerving all over the roadway. Sheriff’s deputy located the vehicle and started following it west on U.S. 224 from 450E. The deputy reported observing erratic driving behavior and activated the emergency red and blue lights on his patrol vehicle. Reportedly the suspect vehicle did not pull over. The deputy then activated his siren and the suspect vehicle still did not pull over. It finally drove into a driveway on Ind. 1 south of 500N. The driver, identified as Douglas Haas, 66, of the address where he was pulled over, reportedly appeared intoxicated, admitted to having drank alcohol earlier and blew a .276 percent alcohol concentration equivalency on a Breathalyzer. That is more than three times the legal limit for intoxication in Indiana. Haas was charged with operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalency of .15 percent or more, a Class A misdemeanor, and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor. No bond was listed.
Sunday, 11:56 a.m., apartment in the Skyline Village apartments in Markle. Report that a man had choked a woman and set off a fire extinguisher in a common area of the apartment complex. The man had left and the woman declined to cooperate with an investigating deputy. She reportedly did not have any marks on her from a physical altercation.
Sunday, 1:02 p.m., residence on 450E south of 500N. Caller reported a riding lawn mower he had for sale in his yard had been stolen.
Sunday, 10:32 p.m., Hoosier Highway at the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing. Dead husky-breed dog found on the tracks. The dog had no tags or any other kind of identification.
Monday, 9:37 a.m., residence on 100W north of Uniondale. Caller reported that someone stole her identity and used it to filed a fraudulent tax return.
Ossian:
Saturday, 3:14 p.m., former Ossian Furniture and Design, 10018N-Ind. 1. Burglar alarm. Officers dispatched. No sign of foul play found.
ACCIDENTS
City:
Friday, 12:31 p.m., Main Street near Arrowhead Trail. A 2014 Subaru Crosstrek, driven by Steven J. Gutowski, 48, Columbia City, hit a stopped 2009 Hyundai Accent driven by Donna J. Deshaine, 77, rural Bluffton, from behind. Damage exceeded $2,500.
Saturday, 12:30 a.m., Wiley Avenue near the Wayne Street intersection. Isaiah Elias Marshall, 27, Bluffton, was driving a 2014 Ford F-350 pickup truck east on Wiley when he drove off the left side of the street, ran over a speed limit sign, crashed into a parked 2012 Dodge Journey, the registered owner not listed on the accident report, and shoved the Journey into a parked 2017 Buick Enclave registered to Kelly A. Lewis, Bluffton. Damage exceeded $10,000. Marshall was arrested on charges of leaving the scene of a property damage accident, a Class B misdemeanor; operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalency of .08 percent or more with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Level 6 felony; and operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction for the same or a similar offense, a Level 6 felony. Bond was set at $6,000.
Sunday, 4:52 p.m., 1014 W. Wabash St. Seth B. Purvis, 20, Liberty Center, backed a 1992 Ford F-150 pickup truck out of the driveway as Brian L. Matlock, 36, Bluffton, was approaching and about to turn a 2017 Chevrolet Traverse sport utility vehicle into his driveway. Damage exceeded $1,000.
County:
Saturday, 5:40 a.m., Saturday, 10:24 p.m., 300W south of 200S. Ryan D. Bell, 34, Warren was southbound on 300W when he swerved to miss a bag of trash in the roadway. He lost control of his 2011 Ford Mustang, spun around 90 degrees and crashed head-on into an Indiana Michigan pole, splitting the pole in half. Damage exceeded $5,000.
Saturday, 8:45 a.m., Ind. 1 near 350N. Ronald A. Wolfe, 81, Bluffton, hit a deer with his 2017 Dodge Caravan. Damage exceeded $5,000.
Ossian:
Saturday, 5:48 a.m., Jefferson Street at Heyerly Drive. Report of a two-vehicle crash. Reportedly a Fort Wayne police officer filed the crash report and there was no further information available.
FIRES
Friday, 2:13 p.m., Lancaster Elementary School, 275 E. Jackson St. Fire alarm. Bluffton Fire Department dispatched. No fire.
Friday, 4:05 p.m., 923 W. South St. residence of Jeremy Kershner. Smoker on fire. Bluffton Fire Department dispatched. Fire contained by the time firefighters arrived.
Friday, 5:22 p.m., 400 block of West LaFever Street, Ossian. Report of a pile of brush on fire. Ossian Fire Department dispatched. Turned out to be a controlled burn.
Saturday, 10:12 p.m., 1906W-Ind. 218, Poneto residence of Katherine Vanover. House fire. Structure fully involved. Fire Departments from Chester Township, Poneto, Liberty Township, Bluffton and Nottingham Township dispatched. Fire under control at 11:07 p.m.
ARRESTS
Triandra Keshaun Agee, 24, Fort Wayne; failure to appear in court. No bond set.
Zolan Riverwind Wetzel, 31, Bluffton; failure of a sex offender to possess a valid Indiana driver’s license or identification, a Class A misdemeanor. Bond set at $1,500.
TICKETS
Melissa M. Bussel, 53, rural Bluffton; 50 mph-30 zone, Monroe Street at Commerce Drive.
Christine L. Penrod, 50, rural Poneto; 68 mph-55 zone, 100N west of Ind. 116.
