Bond reduction denied for carjacking suspect

Elwood

GREENCASTLE -- Putnam County Circuit Judge Matthew Headley has denied a bond reduction for an alleged carjacking.

Brandon L. Elwood, 24, of Spencer has been in jail since Aug. 9, charged with Class B felony carjacking, Class D felonies resisting law enforcement, battery by bodily waste, auto theft and theft, Class A misdemeanor operating a vehicle with at least .15 grams of alcohol in .210 liters of breath, Class B misdemeanor criminal mischief and Class C misdemeanor operating while intoxicated.

At his initial hearing, Elwood pled not guilty to all charges and his bond was set at $40,000 with 10 percent allowed.

At Elwood's bond reduction hearing on Aug. 26, his court-appointed attorney Joel Wieneke said his client was needed at home to help his wife, who was a full-time students and stay-at-home mother, with the couple's two young children.

Elwood told Headley he had a job waiting for him if he were to be released from jail.

Elwood's criminal history includes convictions for domestic battery and public intoxication. He had also faced charges of resisting arrest and illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor.

The state objected to the bond reduction, citing Elwood's "lengthy history of alcohol-related offenses."

Wieneke said Elwood's wife was looking into alcohol treatment programs for her husband.

If Elwood were to post bond, he would be required to hook up to electronic home monitoring through Putnam County Community Corrections.

The charges against Elwood stem from an Aug. 7 incident that allegedly took place in Cloverdale.

Court records said police were dispatched to the area of the Stardust Hills subdivision to check on a report of criminal mischief after Putnam County Dispatch received a call about a vehicle that had struck several mailboxes.

Witnesses gave a description of the man who was driving that car, a silver Lincoln, and added he had also been beating on the door of a home in the subdivision. Shortly after, a call came in saying a carjacking had occurred on Burma Road.

The alleged victim of the carjacking said he had seen a silver Lincoln in the ditch on C.R. 100E, and that when he stopped to help the driver of the Lincoln had grabbed the alleged victim's cell phone, punched him in the testicles and took off with his car.

The description the alleged carjacking victim gave of his assailant matched the description witnessed had given of the man who had struck the mailboxes in Stardust Hills, court records said.

As officers were taking information from the alleged carjacking victim, dispatch advised they had received a phone call from the Cloverdale Marathon station advising a man wearing shorts, no shirt and who was "covered in tattoos was at the station acting odd."

The attendant at the station also said the man was driving a red Nissan, which matched the description of the alleged carjacking victim's vehicle, and that he had left traveling westbound.

An officer spotted the vehicle and attempted to stop it on U.S. 231. Officers pursued the vehicle, which ended up crashing near the intersection of U.S. 231 and Stardust Road.

"The driver fled on foot and was tazed and taken into custody," court records said.

The driver was determined to be Elwood.

If convicted on all charges, Elwood could be sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.

A pretrial conference in Elwood's case is set for Sept. 30.