Published: October 07, 2009 09:53 pm         

High-speed chase puts felon back behind bars

TERRE HAUTE — A high-speed chase Tuesday night in Terre Haute has landed a felon recently released from prison back behind bars.

Joshua Angel, 27, had just been released from the Indiana Department of Correction on Sept. 30.

“Well, it didn’t take you too long,” Judge Michael Eldred told Angel during an arraignment in Vigo Superior Court Division 1 on Wednesday morning. Eldred found probable cause for Angel’s arrest on charges of resisting law enforcement, criminal recklessness and being a habitual traffic violator, all class-D felonies.

Detective Troy Davis of the Terre Haute Police reported that at 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, a patrolman spotted a vehicle westbound on Maple Avenue that disregarded a stop sign at Ninth Street. The vehicle also failed to stop at Seventh Street, so the officer attempted to pull over the vehicle.

The driver, later identified as Angel, then led police on a chase that allegedly reached 90 mph on Third Street and First Street before the driver abandoned the car and fled on foot.

Angel jumped a fence, losing both shoes, and was soon located by police in a wooded area.

Davis reported that Angel has a lengthy criminal record, including arrests in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006 on charges that include criminal mischief, resisting arrest, auto theft, residential entry, battery and habitual traffic violation.

Eldred appointed attorney Dennis Majewski as Angel’s public defender, and set his next court date for Tuesday.

Angel is being held in the Vigo County jail on bail of $75,000 with no 10 percent allowed.

A class-D felony carries a penalty of six months to three years in prison.