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Last updated on Tuesday, January 20, 2015
(BROWNSTOWN) - A Brownstown man has been arrested in connection with a methamphetamine explosion last year that caused a house fire.
40-year-old Keith Warnock, was arrested Sunday on a Jackson Circuit Court warrant on a felony charges of dealing in meth with an explosion enhancement, auto theft and resisting law enforcement, and misdemeanor charges of resisting law enforcement and possession of paraphernalia.
He also faces a charge of driving while his driver's license was suspended with a previous conviction.
A warrant was issued for Warnock's arrested on Dec. 8 after an investigation by Indiana State Police and the State Fire Marshal.
Police say on September 7, 2014, firefighters were called to a house fire at 500 West Spring Street. The home was engulfed in flames. Officials determined the fire was caused because someone was cooking meth.
Warnock's wife, 39-year-old Jill Warnock, was asleep at the time of the fire but woke to smoke and flames. She attempted to put the fire out with what she thought was water, but was actually a chemical to make the drug, which caused an explosion.
Warnock suffered severe burns and was treated at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis and was released.
On Sunday, Keith Warnock was arrested following a high-speed chase through the northwest part of Jackson County.
According to a news release from Jackson County Officer Rick Meyer, around 10 p.m. Sunday a Seymour officer alerted other agencies that a stolen maroon 202 GMC with a broken tail light had been stolen from a home in the 300 block of East Sixth Street in Seymour.
Deputy Meyer says he was sitting in the parking lot of a business on the east side of Freetown when he saw a vehicle matching the description of the stolen vehicle traveling west on State Road 58.
Deputy Meyer activated his lights, to pull the vehicle over and that is when the driver sped way heading west on county roads, eventually working his way back to State Road 58 to Norman, where he turned south. The chase, which reached a top speed of 80 mph, ended when the driver lost control of the vehicle and hit a tree in the 10000 block of County Road 400N, west of Clearspring.
The driver then took off on foot. Officers followed and caught the driver 50 yards from the crash site and Warnock was arrested.
A 26-year-old female passenger in the vehicle complained of pain and was taken to Schneck Medical Center in Seymour. She was later released.
Drug paraphernalia was found during a search of Warnock and the vehicle.
The investigation is ongoing and more charges could follow.
Keith Warnock is scheduled for a jury trial March 3 on separate criminal charges following a police chase three months ago. That pursuit began in Seymour and ended about 45 minutes later northwest of Brownstown, with speeds that reached 100 miles per hour. Once the vehicle stopped at the home, Keith Warnock fled the vehicle and was caught. Warnock faces charges of illegal drug lab possession, possession of meth and possession of meth with the intent to deal, resisting law enforcement, possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, driving while suspended, criminal mischief and criminal recklessness. Jill Warnock, who stayed in the car, faces a charge of theft from another incident.
Warnock was out of jail on that charge after posting a bond of $20,005 on Nov 13.
He is now being held without bond at the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown pending his initial hearing on the new charges.
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