KOSCIUSKO — After resisting law enforcement during a police chase on Wednesday, Jan. 2, official criminal charges have been filed against a Milford man. He faces a number of charges and is being held on a $150,250 surety and cash bond in the Kosciusko County Jail.

Terry Jean Howard

Terry Jean Howard, 42, 4569 West CR 1000N, Milford, is being charged with possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a level 4 felony; resisting law enforcement, a level 6 felony; theft, a class A misdemeanor; illegal possession of whitetail deer, a class B misdemeanor; and taking whitetail deer by artificial light, a class C misdemeanor.

In November 2018, officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources reported receiving information that Howard was shooting deer illegally. They began conducting surveillance on Howard.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, officers observed Howard leave his residence at 12:45 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2018. The officers observed Howard driving slowly down country roads, frequently turning around in the road and changing directions. The officers past training and experience indicated that the driver was attempting to shoot deer.

At 3:55 a.m., Howard’s vehicle returned to a family member’s residence and Howard returned to his home at 4:45 a.m. When he returned to his home, the officer observed a deer with antler tines sticking above the truck bed. The officer continued surveillance on the residence and Howard did not leave the residence again until 10:42 a.m.

The officers checked the area where they knew Howard had stopped during the night in Noble County. According to the affidavit of probable cause, they found tire tracks where a vehicle had driven into a field, wet blood in the field and blood on top of the tire tracks which indicated that the deer had been loaded into a vehicle.

At 7:37 a.m., officers checked the family member’s residence where Howard had stopped during the evening and observed a deer hanging from a pole in plain view.

On Nov. 20, Howard reported to the online Indiana check-in game registry, under the penalties of perjury, that he had killed an antlered deer in Noble County at 9:05 a.m. on Nov. 19. Officers knew that the information was false because Howard was inside his residence during that timeframe.

On Dec. 29, Kosciusko County Dispatch received a domestic disturbance complaint at Howard’s residence. A female advised that Howard has a shed on the property that contained a large assortment of items, most of which still had the return tags on them. The female advised that she believed Howard had stolen the items. The officers received consent to search the shed and located 81 gas powered trimmers, 16 leaf blowers, one edger, one hedge trimmer, seven chainsaws, one edger attachment and 36 trimmer attachments. The officers also found two large deer skulls with antlers that appeared to have been recently killed.

The female further advised that Howard had gifted her a handgun for Christmas that she believed was stolen. Officers discovered that the handgun had indeed been stolen from Albertsons Gun Store in Warsaw.

The female told the officers that Howard usually hunts between 2 and 5 a.m. and that she believed he had poached four or five deer in 2018 and 13 deer in 2017. She advised that he processes the deer in the garage, but has a storage unit where she believes there are more deer antlers.

Officers obtained a search warrant for Howard’s storage unit. Inside the storage unit, officers located 16 sets of antlers, a rifle and one box of deer slug ammunition.

On Jan. 2, officers received a complaint of Howard breaking into the female’s residence. By this time, a no-contact order had been placed between Howard and the female. Officers located Howard driving on SR 15, in the area of CR 900N. They attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but Howard failed to stop his vehicle.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Howard drove his vehicle across a field and officers were able to stop him at CR 1050N and Orn Road. A K9 unit walked the area where Howard had driven across the field and found a shotgun with a scope that had been thrown out of the vehicle.

Howard admitted to officers that he had used spotlights from his vehicle to shoot two does and one buck. He admitted that the gun he used to shoot the deer was the same gun he had thrown out of his vehicle while resisting officers.

Howard was previously convicted on dealing methamphetamine on March 4, 2005 in Noble County.