Callaway County man charged after chase on county roads

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Callaway County man was charged this week with vehicle theft and resisting arrest after allegedly leading a deputy on a chase near New Bloomfield.

A deputy on patrol tried to pull over Joshua Temmen, 30, on County Road 338 near Repper Bridge Road on Sunday as part of an investigation into thefts in the Tebbetts and Wainwright area, according to a Callaway County Sheriff's Office news release. Temmen led the deputy on a chase that ended when his vehicle broke down on County Road 328, according to the release.

Temmen was charged Monday with first-degree vehicle tampering, resisting arrest -- both felonies -- and driving without a license.

Temmen has prior felony convictions in Callaway and Cole counties dating back to 2016, according to the sheriff's office. He was sentenced in October 2020 to seven years in prison for burglary and stealing, the sheriff's office said, and was released on parole on April 5 this year.

"Your local law enforcement officers are doing their job, your elected Prosecuting Attorney is prosecuting and your elected Judges are sending repeat criminals to prison," Sheriff Clay Chism wrote in the Facebook post. "However, these criminals are only serving a 'dime on the dollar' before the Missouri Department of Corrections administration releases said offenders on parole – putting them back in our community to only reoffend, victimizing law-abiding, tax paying citizens."

Chism went on to call for a truth-in-sentencing law in Missouri.

The next hearing in Temmen's case is set for Oct. 5.