BUCKHANNON – A Lewis County man was arrested in Upshur County Thursday after allegedly taking a two separate vehicles earlier in the week and fleeing from police in one of them.

Corey Tanner, 31, of Weston, was arrested Thursday, Oct. 1, for two counts of unlawful taking of a vehicle, second offense, a felony, and fleeing on foot, a misdemeanor. These incidents occurred over the past week, with the first allegedly occurring Sunday, Sept. 27, according to three separate complaints filed in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office.

According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Deputy Joseph Barcus with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, the most recent incident occurred Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020 at approximately 9:05 p.m., when Lt. Marshall Powers and Barcus were on general patrol, traveling south on Upshur County Route 20.

Upon passing Kay’s Diner, Barcus spotted a gray F-150 Ford truck matching the description of a vehicle that had been reported stolen two days earlier, on Sept. 29, 2020. After turning around and approaching the vehicle, Barcus confirmed it was the stolen vehicle. Powers and Barcus approached the vehicle, with their service weapons drawn and began issuing loud, verbal commands to the driver, later identified as Tanner.

According to the report, when the officers ordered Tanner to step out of the vehicle with his hands up, he allegedly began to flee on foot in a westward direction.

Barcus began to pursue Tanner, issuing loud, verbal commands for him to stop and he allegedly refused, the file says. After pursuing Tanner for approximately a quarter-mile, Tanner tripped, and Barcus drew his taser and directed him to get on the ground with his hands behind his back.

Tanner allegedly refused and was then tased. After a brief struggle, Powers and Barcus restrained Tanner and he was subsequently arrested for fleeing on foot and also on a felony warrant out of Lewis County, the file notes.

That incident stemmed from a criminal complaint filed by Sgt. Tom Posey with the Buckhannon Police Department in relation to an event that allegedly occurred Tuesday, Sept. 29.

According to Posey’s report, on Sept. 29, 2020, a woman had been driving her boyfriend’s 2016 F-150, and Tanner was her passenger when she stopped on East Main Street in Buckhannon for a doctor’s appointment. According to the report, she left the vehicle running with Tanner inside. When she returned, the truck was gone.

Posey spoke with Tanner’s father, who said he had seen his son with the truck in Lewis County the same day. The owner of the vehicle was later identified, and police realized the vehicle was valued at about $30,000. Tanner had a previous conviction of unlawful taking of a vehicle in Lewis County with the date of Dec. 19, 2017, the file says.

According to a third criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Lt. E. Riddle of the Weston Police Department, on Sunday, Sept. 27, Riddle was dispatched to Minnich Street in reference to a stolen vehicle.

Upon arriving on scene, Riddle contacted Jeffrey Tanner, the victim. He stated around 9:45 a.m., his son, Corey Tanner, came to the residence on Minnich Street and allegedly took the keys to Jeffrey Tanner’s 2015 Chrysler 200. As he was leaving the residence, Corey Tanner said, he “would never see him again,” the file says.

Corey Tanner allegedly drove off in the Chrysler 200.

The potential penalty for a conviction of unlawful taking of a vehicle, second offense, is a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years in the state penitentiary or both.

The potential penalty for a conviction of fleeing on foot is a fine ranging from $50 to $500, confinement in jail for up to a year or both.