A local felon on parole was arrested on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges Monday after a vehicle pursuit by Garland County sheriff's deputies and allegedly breaking into a house to hide until he finally surrendered after a standoff.
Dillon Ray Ellis, 25, who lists a Rockdale Road address, was taken into custody shortly before 11:30 a.m. and charged with felony counts of residential burglary, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and felony fleeing, punishable by up to 10 years, and he had two felony warrants for failure to appear.
Ellis remained in custody Tuesday on a zero bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court. According to court records, he was convicted in Pike County in 2018 of felony fleeing, theft of property and two counts of theft by receiving and sentenced to four years in prison, but later paroled. He was convicted in Garland County in 2019 of possession of a defaced firearm, possession of a firearm by certain persons, criminal use of a prohibited weapon and theft by receiving and sentenced to six years in prison, but later paroled.
According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly before 10 a.m. Monday, sheriff's Deputy Thomas Fox saw a white Dodge Charger with a green hood fail to yield as it came off Highway 7 at the junction of highways 5 and 7.
Fox recognized the driver as Ellis, whom he knew to have arrest warrants, so he activated his lights to make a traffic stop, but Ellis allegedly sped up and began actively fleeing as Fox activated his siren. Ellis headed west on Park Avenue and then turned into the parking lot of Sonic Drive-in, 4311 Park.
It accelerated through the lot and turned onto Mondou Street and back to Park where he accelerated and "traveled at a high rate of speed through the school zone" at Fountain Lake "during school hours" and then drove through a construction zone on Park with workers present.
"There was heavy traffic in the area so the vehicle pulled into Fountain Lake Plaza and turned around in the parking lot and headed back east on Park," the affidavit said.
The vehicle continued east and reportedly went the wrong way at the roundabout, "nearly striking a vehicle head-on" before heading onto Highway 7 north where he continued to swerve between multiple vehicles and cross the double yellow centerline to pass an SUV and a dump truck.
"During this maneuver, Ellis lost control of the vehicle while nearly hitting another oncoming vehicle driven by a white female head-on," Fox said. Ellis regained control and continued to Surrey Road to Chapparal Court.
The vehicle reportedly continued to the end of Chapparal and pulled through a driveway into the yard of a residence where Fox notes he again was able to get close enough to identify the driver as Ellis.
The vehicle continued back to Chapparal, driving off an embankment at one point, and then back to Surrey Road where Deputy Candice Presley got behind it and took the lead on the pursuit.
Presley lost sight of the vehicle while they were traveling on Vaughn Road and shortly after 10 a.m. advised she lost it in the 400 block of Vaughn. About 20 minutes later, Capt. Joel Ware located fresh tire tracks leading from Vaughn Road to the rear of a residence in that area.
Upon checking the area, Ware located the Charger and then noted the rear door of the residence "appeared to have been forced open." Deputies set up a perimeter around the residence and attempted to make contact with Ellis using a patrol unit's intercom system "to no avail."
Sheriff's Investigator Charlie Mowery was notified and he was able to obtain a search warrant for the residence. At 11:25 a.m., about one hour since Ware spotted the Charger, deputies and Arkansas State Police troopers made entry into the house and reportedly located Ellis in a bedroom and took him into custody without further incident.
In addition to the felony charges, Ellis was charged with misdemeanor counts of reckless driving, careless and prohibited driving and driving on a suspended driver's license and was cited for driving a vehicle with no tags or registration, speeding over 15 mph, speeding in a school zone, three counts of failure to obey a traffic device or stop sign, failure to obey a police officer, no liability insurance, failure to maintain control and five counts of failure to yield.