A 45-year-old Odessa man was arrested on a theft charge early Sunday morning following a nearly 30-minute pursuit.
According to an Ector County Sheriff’s Office report, someone from XTO Energy called 911 around 1:40 a.m. Sunday to report someone was in their yard on East Highway 158 in Goldsmith.
When a deputy arrived, he tried to stop a Ford F-150 that was pulling out of the yard, but the driver ignored him and continued to drive east on the highway, its median and the shoulder, the report stated.
The deputy discovered the license plate didn’t come back to the truck and its vehicle identification number was from Maryland, the report stated.
Joshua Lane Gesch was arrested 29 minutes later and the deputy found copper in the truck, according to the report.
When deputies went back to XTO, an employee showed them where the copper had been cut from some spools, the report stated.
Gesch was booked into the Ector County jail on suspicion of theft of materials, evading arrest with a vehicle and two illegal dumping charges out of Midland County. He was released from the jail Wednesday after posting bonds totaling $35,000. The theft charge is a state jail felony punishable by six months to two years in prison and the evading charge is a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison.
