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Wanted man steals deputy's truck; used hidden rooms, crawl spaces to escape Connersville officers

Steven Lakes, who police say has a history of evading arrest, remains at large. He's wanted for battery of a public safety official and dealing meth.

CONNERSVILLE, Ind. — Steven T. Lakes, a man known for evading arrest and who's wanted on an array of charges, has committed another crime. This time, police say, he is accused of stealing a deputy's truck. 

Police said Lakes stole a Union County sheriff's deputy truck Tuesday morning from a gas station in Liberty, Indiana. 

Police encourage anyone who spots Lakes or the stolen truck to call 911. 

Police consider Lakes to be armed and dangerous. He was last seen heading to Ripley County. 

The truck is described as a black Ford F-150 with sheriff's department decals. 

Credit: Indiana State Police

Lakes is wanted on several active arrest warrants for charges including battery on a public safety official resulting in serious bodily injury and dealing methamphetamine.

He was last seen wearing a black hoodie and black pants. He is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and approximately 145 pounds. 

Police said the current information is that Lakes does not have the facial hair that is shown in the photo below.

Credit: Indiana State Police
Steven T. Lakes

Police have been hunting Lakes, who time and again has evaded arrest. 

On Saturday, they got close. 

Neighbors captured on camera the tense Saturday standoff between state police, Connersville police and a wanted man.

"I'm recording this for 8 1/2 hours, from my porch right here," said neighbor Bill Goode. "I see police over here, over there."

"We watched 'em shoot the tear gas into the house. We could hear it," said Amy Short, who watched a Facebook Live feed of the standoff.

"They used that truck with a thing on the front of it," Goode added, "They smashed all the windows out of that guy's house down there, front door out, chaos."

But battering rams, boarded-up windows and broken glass tell only part of the twisted tale here.

"Twists and turns, very literally," said Connersville Police Lt. Clint Brown.

Credit: WTHR
Steven T. Lakes used a series of hidden rooms and crawlspaces to evade arrest in a Connersville home Saturday.

Police say the subject of their manhunt escaped through hidden rooms and crawlspaces in the house where he was staying, in the 1300 block of Eastern Avenue.

"Things you would see in movies, this house had those -- a false hallway that was a crawlspace, that had two doors on either side that slid into further crawlspaces," Brown said.

Police say an off-duty state trooper tipped them off that Lakes, wanted on battery and drug warrants out of Franklin County, was cooped up here in Connersville.

The homeowner confirmed to investigators that he was inside. But police were also warned this guy is clever at evading arrest.

"He was more of a smaller statured man, so he would be available to slip through holes, cracks windows ... pretty easily," Brown said.

Credit: WTHR
Steven T. Lakes used a series of hidden rooms and crawlspaces to evade arrest in a Connersville home Saturday.

And sure enough, during the standoff, he somehow slipped away again.

After police got a search warrant and used an armored vehicle and chemicals to get in, they discovered those unexpected secrets in a sweep of the house.

"For instance, a bookshelf was a false shelf where a book pulled it away from the wall to a living area inside, a small living quarters," Brown said. "I would say maybe twice in my career I've seen a house that has this type of capabilities with false walls and false shelves."

Police did arrest two women on outstanding warrants that night.

But Steven Lakes is still on the lam.

Police are continuing to investigate in an effort to track him down. Anyone with information about him and his location is asked to call the Connersville Police Department at 765-825-2111.

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