Intoxicated thief crashes stolen truck then jumps a fence to flee, say police

A suspected intoxicated car thief jumped a fence and led police on a chase through a Pasco neighborhood after crashing the stolen truck.

The truck owner planned to head to work and started his work truck, a Ford F-350 shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday at a Road 68 apartment complex. He went back inside to grab something, and came out to find the truck missing.

Officer Adrian Alaniz spotted the truck on Interstate 182 where it had crashed on the Fourth Avenue on-ramp, Pasco police said on Facebook.

When Alaniz slowed down to check on the crash, the suspect, Jonathon Villegas, 25, of Kennewick, sprinted away, climbed the freeway fence and went into the Empire Drive neighborhood east of the Sun Willows golf course.

Officers chased Villegas through the neighborhood and spotted him hiding behind an air conditioning unit, police said.

As they were arresting him, Villegas “could hardly stand up” and “had droopy eyes and was kind of out of it,” according to court records.

Investigators believe he was intoxicated and they received a search warrant for his blood. His blood was taken and is expected to be tested later.

He is being held in the Franklin County jail for vehicle theft. Bail is set at $15,000.

This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 10:54 AM.