SALINE CO.— A news item that came to the public’s attention with the crashing of a truck into a mobile home in Galatia exploded over the next several days, despite a lack of information from Saline County officials, when it was discovered that the guy driving the truck was on an alleged multi-county crime spree.
He ended up in Tennessee, of all places, mistreating a horse, which is where and how he got caught…leading the public to believe that the Mattoon man, Brandon T. Robinson, 33, was apparently suffering from some kind of transportation jones since nearly every county he went, he was alleged to have attempted to take off with a truck or, in the case of the Tennessee incident…a very expensive horse.
The whole thing started in Coles County, however, on May 31.
According to information filed in the case, Brandon T. Robinson, 33, of 844 Co. Rd. 1025 East, Toledo (at least according to his driver’s license and the citation that was issued to him in Saline), allegedly stole a 2007 Chevrolet pickup from a location in Mattoon and traveled down to rural northwest Edwards County.
There, he ditched the Chevy 1500 4X4, which had been reported stolen, and is alleged to have helped himself to a 1998 Dodge truck with a gooseneck trailer attached (and the trailer bearing a water tank), from a farm at that Edwards location.
Robinson is then said to have traveled with that big load down to Saline County, where, at 618 Park Street in Galatia at 3:48 p.m., he managed to run the allegedly-stolen vehicle off the road and into a residential mobile home at that address.
Somehow, Robinson got the truck stuck in a ditch near the mobile home, and he was trying to get it out of the ditch when an Illinois State Police trooper saw this and thought he might help.
However, when the trooper walked up to Robinson struggling with the Edwards County truck, Robinson took off on foot, prompting a brief manhunt that involved Saline County, Galatia police, and of course the ISP trooper…none of whom could catch Robinson.
He was allegedly able to steal yet another vehicle, and somehow made his way down to Bedford County, Tenn.
There, the next day (June 1), Robinson, who apparently is not as good of a driver as he is an alleged vehicle thief, was involved in an accident in Bedford County. The truck had been abandoned and it came back stolen out of Montgomery County, Tenn. Local authorities investigated and found Robinson apparently out footing it on a road not far from the wreck.
Of course, when authorities questioned Robinson, he gave them a fictitious name.. They didn’t buy it, and attempted to take him into custody, but he was alleged to have resisted and fought with officers.
A little further investigation turned up that Mr. Fictitious Name had also just attempted to thieve a registered Tennessee Walking/Spotted Saddle Horse worth more than $10,000. Authorities had a hard time locating the critter, but ultimately found it, slightly injured and tied to a tree.
In Tennessee, Robinson was charged with Theft over $1,000; Theft over $10,000; Resisting Arrest, and Criminal Impersonation.
In Edwards County, he’s charged with Theft (of the farm vehicle).
In Saline County, he’s been charged with Unlawful Possession of a Stolen Vehicle, after police say he was at 618 Park St., Galatia, at 3:48 p.m., in a silver, 1998 Dodge truck at a time when he knew the vehicle to be stolen.
Robinson is also charged with Unlawful Possession of a Weapon by a Felon, identified as a Remington 12 gauge shotgun and a second count of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon identified as firearm ammunition, specifically 12 gauge shotgun shells.
The Saline County citation written in the case claimed that Robinson was still being held in custody in Bedford County, Tenn. There was no waiver of extradition on file.
And in Coles County, he’s wanted on a parole violation from a 2014 case there involving a stolen vehicle conviction.