CLEAR LAKE – An apparent male subject stole a pickup truck Tuesday night and led police on a chase and search before setting the vehicle on fire and getting away.
A silver Dodge pickup truck was reported stolen Tuesday night, and the subject drove the vehicle into a corn field near the Orchard Park trailer park on Clear Lake’s north side, near the Lions football field, at about 9:40 PM. An officer said the driver “accelerated pretty fast through the cornfield”. Law enforcement, including Iowa State Patrol troopers, searched for the truck but could not locate it. They soon gave up on the corn field and began looking for escape routes.
Not long after, police received a call that the pickup truck was spotted in town traveling at 70 miles per hour, near 1st Avenue and North 16th Street. Police converged on that area and discovered the truck in a ditch at South 27th Street and Hickory Avenue, on fire. Police determined that the suspect was not inside the truck and had fled, on foot. Officers went to a bridge on the Interstate nearby and used thermal binoculars to try to locate the suspect, and a canine was also brought to help search, but no one was found.
The vehicle fire is being investigated as arson.
UPDATE FROM CLEAR LAKE POLICE:
A Clear Lake man went on a crime spree in Clear Lake which started Monday evening and ended this morning when he was arrested by police. Michael Dean Wilson, 25, is in custody in the Cerro Gordo County Jail facing multiple felony charges.
Wilson burglarized the Econo Foods pharmacy Monday night then stole a truck from the area of Buddy Holly Place and Hwy 18. The Clear Lake Police Department took a report that Wilson was just South of Clear Lake in a truck matching the description of the stolen vehicle. At approximately 9:30 Tuesday night, Wilson was located in the truck in a corn field. Officers tried to apprehend him but he drove out of the corn field and the truck was later found in the ditch at 240th Street and Hickory Avenue in Clear Lake. The cab of the truck was fully engulfed in flames but Wilson was not in the truck.
Shortly after 8 am on Wednesday morning, Wilson was apprehended by CLPD. Wilson faces charges of: Burglary in the 3rd degree, 2 counts of possession of a controlled substance, Possession of a precursor to manufacture methamphetamine, Criminal mischief, and Interference. Two additional burglary charges are expected to be filed against Wilson by the end of the week.
CLPD was assisted by the Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office, Iowa State Patrol, Hancock County Sheriffs Office, and the Clear Lake Fire Department.
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INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
