A 22-year-old Canyon County man is in custody after he decided to drive an SUV through several fields in northwest Eagle and Star early Friday morning when a deputy attempted to pull him over for not having working tail lights.
Cody Ray Dale Willard is charged with felony burglary in connection to the case. He is also charged three felony counts of failure to appear out of Canyon County. Additional Ada County charges against Willard are pending.
The SUV was eventually found the empty SUV in a field off Prism Ridge Lane in Star. Willard was found hiding in a car about a mile away on Cowboy Lane. Detectives are also investigating if Willard is connected to recent construction site/home burglaries in north Ada County.
The incident began just before 2 a.m. when a deputy attempted to pull the SUV over near the Lanewood/Floating Feather roads intersection. The driver, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt which covered much of his face, took off, driving through fields to get to roads. Then he’d drive back into fields to avoid deputies. At one point, a deputy tried to use his patrol car to stop the SUV near the Star Ridge Way/Lanktree Gulch intersection.
Deputies called off the pursuit for safety reasons at that point, set up a perimeter, and began searching the neighborhoods for the SUV.
Deputies found the SUV in a field about 500 feet off Prism Ridge Lane in Star. The SUV was empty.
A short time later, a homeowner in the 4000 block of Cowboy Lane, which is about a mile away, found Willard, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, laying in their car. Deputies arrived moments later and discovered Willard had taken several items from a shed at that house and had them with him in the car.
Deputies took Willard into custody at that point without further incident.
Willard is set to make his initial court appearance on Monday afternoon. The crime of felony burglary is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.