Jasonville man arrested within hours after allegedly stealing a utility vehicle

A Jasonville man is accused of stealing a Kawasaki Mule yesterday morning. By mid-afternoon, a deputy had located the stolen Mule and the suspect was booked into jail.

Kenneth Pettus Jr.

Kenneth Pettus, Jr., 28, Jasonville, was arrested by Deputy James Carpenter of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, August 26.

Pettus is accused of stealing a green diesel Kawasaki Mule, a utility vehicle, from a residence.

Deputy Carpenter, the investigating officer in the case of the missing Mule, said GCSD Sgt. Bobby Pierce responded to a vehicle accident in the area of County Road 700 North and CR 1400 West at 5:51 a.m. yesterday, Wednesday, August 26. Pettus and his girlfriend were reported to be involved and their vehicle was towed because it had false and fictious plates.

Later that morning, at 11:20 a.m., a man called the sheriff’s department and said his green diesel Kawasaki Mule had been stolen. Deputy Carpenter responded and said the man lives at the intersection where the earlier accident occurred.

The Mule’s owner said it had been parked between his house and his barn and he showed the deputy where it was sitting before it went missing. The owner said he’d already called family and workers to see if someone might have possibly borrowed it. The owner described the Mule, with cleated tires on the rear, farm tools and an identifying sticker on it. The deputy entered the Mule into the IDACS system as a stolen vehicle.

When the deputy left the owner’s property, he saw a minivan that appeared to be broken down on County Road 1380 West. He stopped. Pettus and his girlfriend were inside the van and said everything was fine. The deputy went on his way toward Jasonville, to look around for places Pettus, a suspect, might have stashed the Mule.

In Jasonville, Deputy Carpenter talked to someone who said they had seen Pettus and his girlfriend riding the Mule that morning on County Road 1375 West.

By 12:14 p.m., Deputy Carpenter had located the Mule on County Road 1375 West, south of County Road 500 North. It was parked on the west side of the road with the hood up, tools on the ground, and a cooler sitting nearby. He swabbed the steering wheel for DNA and seized a water bottle sitting on the floor on the driver’s side. The owner then arrived and identified his Mule and made arrangements to pick it up.

By 12:51 p.m., Deputy Carpenter was at a residence on Park Avenue in Jasonville where the girlfriend’s van was parked. Chief Ryan Van Horn and Officer Andrew Duguay of the Jasonville Police Department also responded to assist. Another resident allowed the officers in and they found Pettus on a bed bleeding from his left eyebrow with a large bump on his nose. Pettus refused medical attention and did not want to talk about how he got injured.

Deputy Carpenter interviewed the girlfriend who allegedly confirmed they had been riding the Mule earlier that day but they got stranded on it. She said Pettus told her the Mule was given to him.

When Pettus was interviewed at the Jasonville Police Department, he denied knowing anything about a stolen Kawasaki Mule and said he had nothing to do with it.

Pettus was booked into the Greene County Jail at 2:20 p.m. His bond was set at $8,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. On Thursday evening, he had not yet posted bond and was still in jail.

Pettus is facing a preliminary charge of auto theft – theft of entire vehicle, a Level 6 felony.