Staff Report

Phillip Jeremy Kessie

WARSAW — A Warsaw man was recently arrested for allegedly stealing a vehicle from a property in Kosciusko County.

Phillip Jeremy Kessie, 49, 5935 S. Woodland Lane, Warsaw, is charged with auto theft and theft where the value of property is between $750 and $50,000, both level 6 felonies.

On May 1, 2023, a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office sergeant responded to an auto theft report. A man said his 1998 Chevrolet 2500 GMT 400 was stolen from his property. The man said the vehicle was parked behind a shed on his property on April 28, 2023. He noticed it was missing on May 1, 2023.

According to court documents, on May 4, 2023, the vehicle’s owner contacted KCSO about sighting his stolen vehicle east of Sidney. Friends of the vehicle’s owner said they saw the Chevrolet being followed by a white van. The friends spoke with the van’s driver, who they believed was Kessie.

Kessie told them he was chasing the truck out of self-defense.

KCSO also received a report about the stolen vehicle being spotted near Winona Lake on May 7, 2023.

On May 10, 2023, a relative of the vehicle’s owner saw the stolen vehicle traveling in the area of Sellers Lake. The relative was driving a tractor at the time and pulled all the way into the roadway to block the vehicle’s path. However, the vehicle’s driver went into a ditch and around the tractor.

On May 11, 2023, KCSO was contacted by Whitley County dispatch about officers being out with the stolen vehicle in South Whitley. The vehicle was found in a large, unlocked barn, with the barn’s owners unsure on when the vehicle was placed on the property.

When the vehicle’s owner went to recover the vehicle, he noticed several items were missing, including a plow part, gas tank, and supply pump. The total value of the missing items was $2,895.

While processing the truck, officers found a receipt with Kessie’s name on it. The receipt was from a local automotive business.

When officers went to the business, they spoke with an employee, who said she helped a customer who kept saying he needed a part to fix a vehicle’s brake lights so he wasn’t pulled over. Upon seeing a picture of Kessie, the employee identified Kessie as the individual she saw.

Kessie was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Aug. 13, 2024.