Suspect Who Led Police on Pursuit to Effingham Sentenced to Prison

The case of a Terre Haute man who took a vehicle in Greenup and fled police until a crash at Effingham earlier this year has begun a prison term.

31-year-old Arial Childress told authorities he had stolen a vehicle in Terre Haute and drove to Greenup where he abandoned that vehicle. Childress then took a pickup truck from in front of the bank in Greenup. Childress reportedly fled west on Route 40 with a Greenup police officer in pursuit through Jewett, Montrose and Teutopolis to Effingham. Childress continued west on Fayette Avenue through Effingham over the interstate and out past La Pasada Estates to where the road takes a jog to the north. Childress missed the jog and ran off the roadway, ending the episode.

No one was injured in the incident.

Childress pleaded guilty in Cumberland County to possession of a stolen vehicle. He was sentenced to five years in prison. He will serve one year mandatory supervised release once out of prison. A charge of aggravated fleeing from police was dismissed as part of the plea.