LEWISTOWN - A 26-year-old Lewistown man was arrested Monday after leading police on a chase in a stolen pickup down a gravel trail near West Charles Street in Lewistown, Lewistown Police Department reports.
Police said Thomas Clinger-Keiser was seen by an officer on patrol at around 10:30 a.m. Monday and the vehicle being driven matched the description of a truck from a theft reported earlier in the day by a local automobile dealer.
The patroling officer then began to follow the pickup when it suddenly accelerated at a high speed and drove to the end of West Charles Street where it left the road and went down a gravel trail, police said.
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Thomas Clinger-Keiser
The truck went down to the end of the trail and into some grass and weeds before becoming stuck in the mud at the location just to the north of U.S. 22, police said.
Clinger-Keiser then fled down a trail into a section of woods where, after Lewistown Police were joined in the search by Granville Township Police and Pennsylvania State Police, he remained until he surrendered about 45 minutes later, police said. During the search, U.S. 22 was temporarily closed, police said.
Drug paraphernalia was also recovered during Clinger-Keiser's arrest, police said.
Clinger-Keiser was charged with theft of a motor vehicle, flight to avoid prosecution, receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia through the office of Magisterial District Judge Jack E. Miller.
He was lodged in the Mifflin County Correctional Facility in lieu of $75,000 bail.
