While most people were staying home on a snowy night, avoiding slick roads, one JPD officer and a couple of GCSD deputies were busy chasing down a woman who allegedly was driving drunk and stole two trucks Monday night. She said she was trying to get to Bloomfield. She made it, when she got a ride to jail.

Jensen Lee Kelch, 30, Terre Haute, was arrested by Deputy Alan Jackson of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department. Kelch was booked into the Greene County Jail at 12:24 a.m. on Tuesday, February 16, following incidents that occurred on Monday night, February 15. One was investigated by Deputy Jackson, the other was investigated by Sgt. Brian Pilant of the Jasonville Police Department.

In the first of the two incidents, Sgt. Pilant was on duty Monday, on a slick and snowy night, when he received a dispatch out of Clay County that a gold-colored Chevrolet Silverado had been stolen from a residence at State Road 159 and SR 48 in Clay County right around 9 p.m. The Silverado was headed toward Jasonville.

Sgt. Pilant headed west out of Jasonville on SR 48 to the area of Shakamak State Park but he did not see the Silverado. As he was heading back to town, he received information that the stolen Silverado was parked at the Dollar Store with a woman sitting in the truck who acted like she was “on something.”

When Sgt. Pilant got to the store, an employee told him the woman told store staff that her truck would not start. The employee said she was “not acting right.” The employee said the woman was in the truck but when Sgt. Pilant went to the truck and opened the door on the driver’s side, nobody was in the truck.

Sgt. Pilant then followed footprints in the snow from the truck to the west around Subway and through the pharmacy parking lot and back out to the sidewalk and onto the highway. He lost the tracks at that point and couldn’t tell where the woman had gone.

Sgt. Pilant returned to his patrol vehicle and started driving around in an attempt to locate the woman. The store staff had said the woman had on dress shoes with no socks and was wearing a very light black jacket.

Sgt. Pilant didn’t find the woman, but he did see another woman at the door to the Friendly Porch. It was an employee who said she had her truck running in the parking area while she was still working to close up. She said when she left the store from the back, she saw her truck pulling out on the highway. This stolen truck was a white 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4.

Sgt. Pilant then drove around Jasonville trying to locate the stolen Dodge truck, with no success. He notified dispatch of the stolen truck.

A little later, Sgt. Pilant was contacted by Deputy Jackson who said he’d found a woman passed out behind the wheel of the Dodge truck on SR 48.

The passed-out driver was identified as Jensen Kelch and when Sgt. Pilant traveled to the scene where she was found, Kelch said she didn’t know anything about the truck. When Sgt. Pilant asked her who the truck belonged to, Kelch told him to ask Deputy Jackson. She also allegedly told him that she was too intoxicated to answer any questions.

Sgt. Pilant noted that Kelch matched the description of the woman he’d been looking for. She was wearing a lightweight black jacket and she had one dress shoe on with no socks. He found her other black dress shoe in the snow on the ground by the driver’s door.

The owner of the truck was notified of the recovery, arrived on the scene and picked up the stolen truck.

After this first incident, a criminal case was filed against Kelch in Greene Superior Court yesterday, Wednesday, February 17, on a preliminary charge of auto theft – theft of an entire automobile, a Level 6 felony.

A warrant was issued for her arrest, but she won’t be hard to find because she’s already in jail. Kelch was actually taken into custody that night by Deputy Jackson on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

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When the dispatch came in from Clay County about the stolen Silverado, Deputy Jackson and GCSD Deputy Michael Coy headed toward Jasonville to assist JPD Sgt. Pilant. Sgt. Pilant located the vehicle but not the driver and the deputies were notified the driver had fled on foot. Moments later, dispatch said the Dodge truck had been stolen from the Friendly Porch.

While enroute, Deputy Jackson came across the Dodge truck, parked off road on State Road 48. He stopped, approached the truck and opened the driver’s side door where he found Kelch passed out behind the wheel. He pulled her out of the truck and handcuffed her.

During a roadside interview in a patrol vehicle, Kelch allegedly admitted she was intoxicated and had been driving the Dodge truck, but she did not know where she was. She said she was trying to get to Bloomfield.

Deputy Jackson said there was an open bottle of liquor in the truck and that Kelch showed multiple signs of intoxication. After Deputy Coy and Sgt. Pilant arrived on the scene, Kelch was transported to the sheriff’s department, in Bloomfield, where she failed standard field sobriety tests. Certified chemical test results showed she had a blood alcohol concentration of .12. The legal limit is .08.

Deputy Jackson noted that Kelch has a prior conviction for operating a vehicle while intoxicated in 2020 in another county.

A records check by GreeneStreets showed she has a lengthy criminal history and has other cases pending against in Vigo County: One involving auto theft, a Level 6 felony, OVWI and OVWI with a prior conviction, and another case involving criminal trespassing, a Class A misdemeanor.

When Kelch was booked into jail, her bond was set at $8,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. She remains in jail.

In the OVWI case investigated by Deputy Jackson, Kelch is facing preliminary charges of:

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

• Operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction within seven years, a Level 6 felony,

• Operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to at least .08 but less than .15, a Class C misdemeanor, and

• Operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration of .08 or more where defendant has a prior conviction, a Level 6 felony.

That’s not all… Another case was filed against Kelch in Clay County earlier today. A warrant was issued out of Clay Superior Court for her arrest on a preliminary charge of auto theft, a Level 6 felony, presumably for the Silverado that was stolen earlier last Monday night.