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Man charged with fleeing on stolen ATV with stolen rifle
silver ATV
A silver 2005 Kawasaki Brute Force 750 was one of the vehicles stolen from Mike's Engine Works over the weekend in Darlington.

DARLINGTON — A Shullsburg man is charged with fleeing police in a stolen ATV with a stolen rifle in the back of the vehicle, according to court records.

Corey R. Gleason, 19, made his initial appearance Aug. 5 in Lafayette County Circuit Court on felony charges of theft, fleeing an officer and escaping custody. He also faces misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer, bail jumping and criminal damage to property. 

Cash bond was set at $200, with conditions that Gleason live with his sister in Belmont and have no contact with two women. A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 26.

According to the criminal complaint:

Deputies were dispatched July 31 to assist in locating Gleason after he reportedly violated a restraining order in Platteville by visiting his pregnant girlfriend at the hospital where she was getting an ultrasound.

An officer found Gleason on an ATV on Galena Street in Darlington, but Gleason fled. Gleason made an attempt to stop when an officer motioned him to stop, then took off down County F, west of Darlington.

The ATV lost power in the area of County Z. Officers were able to detain and handcuff Gleason. As an officer tried to put Gleason in a squad, Gleason slipped the officer’s grip and ran off, still handcuffed, but was quickly caught again. He was jailed.

Police found a loaded .243 bolt-action rifle on the back of the ATV. Gleason told deputies he was on foot after leaving the hospital in Platteville when he came across the Yamaha Grizzly 600 ATV with the keys in it at a residence outside the city. He stole the ATV and drove it to a Shullsburg residence on Picanax Street, where he’d been staying with a woman who bailed him out of jail several days earlier. He stole a rifle from a bedroom at her residence.

Gleason said he stole the rifle because he was afraid of his landlord, who he said had pointed a gun at him. Gleason said he drove to Darlington on the ATV to get help with his landlord situation, then fled police out of fear, knowing he had violated the restraining order in Grant County.