Lang
10/30/23
A rural Oxford man faces numerous charges after a Saturday morning police chase near Riverside.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office received a report just after 8:45 a.m. of a suspicious pickup truck hidden among the corn in a field on Palm Avenue, south of Kalona. The caller reported having a chainsaw stolen the previous day, and that a neighbor had reported seeing the same vehicle in the area at the time of the theft.
The truck was located just after 10:15 Saturday morning at the Riverside Casey’s on Highway 22. A pursuit ensued involving Washington County deputies and the Iowa State Patrol. The chase finally ended near the intersection of Gable Avenue and 560th Street, north of Kalona. The driver, identified as 59-year-old Jimmy Dean Frees of Iowa Johnson Road, is charged with Felony Eluding, 3rd Degree Theft, Driving While Barred, Possession of a Controlled Substance – 2nd Offense, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Operating While Intoxicated – 3rd and Subsequent Offense, Failure to Provide Proof of Liability and numerous traffic and vehicle registration violations. Frees also has three warrants out of Iowa County.
Frees has previous burglary convictions in Johnson County, and had a case management conference scheduled for Monday (today) on 2nd Degree Theft and 3rd Degree Burglary charges for a January break-in in North LIberty.