A weekend high speed chase that started in Jefferson County and ended in Henry County has landed the driver in jail on multiple drug charges.
According to Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy was fueling his patrol truck in Batavia late Saturday morning and noticed a Cadillac vehicle with license plates corresponding to a BMW vehicle. When the deputy attempted a traffic stop, the vehicle sped off heading east on Highway 34. The motorist then tried to exit the highway in Fairfield, came upon a roadblock set up by Fairfield Police, and then returned to Highway 34 continuing eastbound. During the pursuit, the suspect’s vehicle reached speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour and was finally brought to a stop when the Henry County Sheriff’s Office deployed stop sticks to deflate the vehicle’s tires.
A Wapello County man was arrested Wednesday following a joint weapons-trafficking investigation by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Fairfield Police Department.
According to Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding, a high-risk warrant was executed at the home of 55-year-old Gregory Warnke near Hedrick and Warnke was found to be in possession of a number of illicit offensive weapons and weapons devices. The search discovered rifles modified to be fully-automatic, short-barreled rifles, a silence/suppressor, and substantial quantities of ammunition, as well as equipment and gear used in the manufacture of firearms. The investigation also found Warnke to be in possession of methamphetamine and marijuana.