Jasonville man and woman facing charges of theft

Warrants were issued Tuesday for the arrests of a Jasonville man and his girlfriend and by Wednesday, he was in jail and appeared in Greene Superior Court for an initial hearing.

Jeremy R. Felker was charged with three counts of theft, all class D felonies, and one count of driving while suspended with a prior conviction within 10 years, a class A misdemeanor.

The other warrant issued was for Stacey R. Whitlow-Massey on a preliminary charge of theft, a class D felony.

Whitlow-Massey is accused of accompanying Felker on a trip to a property in Jasonville where things were stolen.

Felker is accused of making more than trip to the property to steal a long list of items.

The case has been under an ongoing investigation by Greene County Sheriff's Deputy Leon Dunigan since he was dispatched on Aug. 27 to take a theft report from a woman who owned property on County Road 600N in the Jasonville area.

The property owner said she had discovered items had been stolen within the previous 24 hours including two wire reindeer, a John Deere pull-type six-foot bush hog, a homemade wood burning stove, a Wheel Horse lawn mower frame and a metal pipe tripod plus other scrap metal.

The deputy advised her to put up a trail camera and she did.

A few days later, on Sept. 3, the property owner called the deputy and said someone had taken more items but this time, images showing the thief had been captured on the trail camera.

According to a probable cause affidavit prepared by Dunigan, the images showed Whitlow-Massey and Felker in an older silver Ford Bronco. The items missing on that day included a Wheel Horse lawnmower with a snow blade in front and a red bush hog.

The next day, Dunigan was dispatched back to the property about another theft of items including two Snapper riding lawn mowers, and the trail camera.

Dunigan tracked down the vehicle -- the images had revealed a license plate number, and he interviewed numerous people during the investigation, including Felker and Whitlow-Massey.

The deputy reported that Felker said the property owner's grandson had given him permission to take items but the grandson denied giving permission and said one of his own items had been stolen too.

Felker also allegedly admitted taking the trail camera and gave it back to the deputy during an interview.

A court official reported that Felker has at least four cases pending against him.

A check of Felker's records shows the following cases or infractions have been filed against him: An infraction for a false or fictitious registration in 2008; in 2009, an infraction for no valid operators license, two infractions for failure of occupant to use a safety belt; in 2010, a misdemeanor for driving while suspended; in 2011, an infraction for driving while suspended; in 2012, three separate misdemeanor cases involving driving while suspended, infractions for expired plates and speeding, and a misdemeanor case of invasion of privacy - violation of a protective order; and in 2013, a misdemeanor case involving invasion of privacy - violation of a protective order; a felony case involving two counts of violation of a protective order, another misdemeanor case for driving while suspended, infractions for driving while suspended and failure to use safety belt and the latest felony case for three counts of theft and driving while suspended.

Most of those cases have been decided and are closed. Still pending cases include two cases involving invasion of privacy, one involving driving while suspended, one infraction and the current case involving theft.

Felker remains in jail but he'll be back in court next Tuesday for another hearing -- a petition to revoke his bond has been filed in one case involving invasion of privacy.