A Bloomfield driver, arrested last week, is accused of driving through some front yards and around houses into side yards and back yards in the Lyons area, and shining lights in the windows of residents.

Christopher Paul Minks, 44, Bloomfield, was arrested by Deputy Jordan Allor of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department early Tuesday, March 2.

At 10:18 p.m. on Monday, March 1, a man called the sheriff’s department and said someone was driving through his yard on County Road 610 South in the Lyons area. He said the truck had light bars that were flashing on and off and that the truck bed was full of tires. He was unable to provide a make and model for the truck.

Deputy Allor was dispatched and enroute, he learned the truck had gone west on the county road and was at a neighbor’s residence. By the time his investigation was over, Deputy Allor heard from more than one resident in the area.

The caller said the truck parked up against his house and was shining his lightbar into his windows. At one point, the driver got out of the truck and was standing outside the house. The truck then drove through a side yard and a back yard, and around a carport. The caller said it seemed like the driver was snooping around looking for something.

A neighbor said he noticed the truck pull in his driveway and drive to the back side of his house. He said he went outside and confronted the driver, asking him why he was in his yard. The driver said he was looking for his wife. The neighbor told the driver that his wife was not there. The neighbor said the driver wanted to go inside the house to look for her. The neighbor told the driver to leave.

Another neighbor also said the truck drove through his yard. He was in bed when he noticed a bright light coming through his window at the rear of the house. The truck had to be behind the house to shine lights in the bedroom window.

The truck made tire marks in these yards.

When Deputy Allor first arrived in the area, he encountered a red 2002 Chevrolet Silverado truck with an LED light bar and tires in the bed. The truck was headed east in the middle of the road at a low rate of speed. A traffic stop was initiated.

Christopher Minks was the driver. During the stop, Minks kept putting his hands down below the door where the deputy could not see them though Minks was told to keep his hands on the steering wheel. He continued to put his hands down and the deputy opened the driver’s side door and told Minks to exit. Deputy Allor reported Minks had unsteady balance out of the truck, but Minks later said he had not been drinking.

When asked why he was driving through yards, Minks said he wasn’t, then added he was driving down the road slow ‘cause he was looking for his wife. He said a friend told him she was staying “out here somewhere.”

Minks did not do well on standard field sobriety tests and was transported to the Linton Police Department for testing in a controlled environment – same result. Minks was transported to Greene County General Hospital for a blood draw – results pending.

Minks was booked into the Greene County Jail on Tuesday, March 2, at 12:55 a.m. His bond was set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He has since posted bond and been released.

Minks is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for an initial hearing on March 15 when he will be formally charged with:

• Operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor, and

• Operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor.