BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man who is wanted on several warrants out of Virginia was arrested in Upshur County Wednesday for allegedly fleeing from an officer following a traffic stop.
Max E. Hollis Jr., 34, of French Creek, was arrested for fleeing from an officer, a misdemeanor.
However, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office by investigating officer Trooper First Class Austin Clark with the Elkins detachment of the West Virginia State Police, state police confirmed Hollis was a fugitive from justice who was wanted out of several jurisdictions in the state of Virginia.
According to the police report Clark filed, on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, at 6:37 p.m., Clark conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle traveling on Oak Road, close to the intersection of Route 151. Clark initiated the traffic stop because the vehicle reportedly matched the description of a vehicle that just left the scene of an altercation in Randolph County, according to the file.
Clark identified the vehicle’s passenger as Hollis, and both Hollis and the driver told police they were just leaving the residence where the altercation had occurred in Randolph County. Clark told both vehicle occupants to “hang out,” while their identifications were verified.
Then, at about 6:40 p.m., Clark saw the passenger door of the vehicle open, and Hollis exited the vehicle and allegedly began running south on Oak Road. Hollis eventually exited the roadway and allegedly ran through a barbed wire fence into a field. Clark maintained a perimeter around the field until additional law enforcement officers arrived, the file says.
About 10 minutes later, another WVSP officer, Cpl. D.T. Stallings, found Hollis hiding in a creek, the police report says. Hollis allegedly told police he was wanted in Virginia and didn’t want to go to jail. According to Clark’s report, WVSP officers later confirmed that Hollis was, in fact, wanted out of “multiple Virginia jurisdictions” that were willing to extradite him back to Virginia.
Upshur County Magistrate Alan Suder set bail on the misdemeanor fleeing charge at $3,000 cash or surety, but Hollis is being held without bond in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail for being a fugitive from justice, according to the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority’s website.
The penalty for a conviction of fleeing from an officer is confinement in jail for not more than one year, a fine of not less than $50 but not more than $500, or both.
