Ex-Muncie man on local 'most wanted' lists since 2012 is arrested in Texas

MUNCIE, Ind. — After more than a decade on local 'most wanted' lists of criminal defendants at large, a former Muncie man was apprehended Wednesday night in Texas.

Doroteo Castillo Chavez, now 62, was arrested locally on Aug. 18, 2012, after he allegedly struck a 2-year-old girl with his car while driving drunk in the westside Hickory Haven Mobile Home Park, where both Chavez and the victim lived.

Muncie police said the girl had tire marks over both legs, facial cuts and "a lot of road rash all over her body," along with possible internal injuries. She was taken by ambulance to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, and later flown by medical helicopter to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

An officer said Chavez — who failed to stop after striking the child — was found in his nearby mobile home, and showed signs of intoxication, including slurred speech.

According to an affidavit, Chavez told the officer he was "just coming through the trailer park heading to his trailer when (the child) ran out in front of him."

More: Delaware County man charged in fatal hit-and-run accident from 2018

The Muncie man also said he "got scared after he hit (the girl) and he just went to his trailer and parked and went (inside)."

Chavez — who had been convicted of driving drunk in Delaware County in 2010 — was later charged in Delaware Circuit Court 1 with failure to stop after an accident resulting in serious bodily injury, causing bodily injury when driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated and failure to return to the scene of an accident.

However, he was released from the Delaware County Jail — after posting a $13,000 bond — three days after the incident in the mobile home park, and he failed to show up for subsequent court hearings. He has not been seen in the Muncie area since that time.

A month after Chavez's disappearance, Eric Hoffman, then a deputy prosecutor, issued a warning that anyone helping the missing defendant "in any way, shape or form" could be charged with obstruction of justice and assisting a criminal.

On Thursday, Hoffman — now in his second term as the county's elected prosecutor — announced Chavez had been apprehended Wednesday evening by U.S. marshals in San Antonio, Texas.

He was being held Thursday in the Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, awaiting extradition to Delaware County.

"This case and others like it should serve as a warning to any criminal defendant who is thinking about fleeing the county to avoid prosecution," Hoffman said in a release. "I will never give up because of the mere passage of time. You may run but you cannot hide forever."

The most serious of the charges pending against Chavez is a Class B felony carrying up to 20 years in prison.

Hoffman expressed appreciation to members of the U.S. Marshal's Service — including former Delaware County Sheriff George Sheridan and Jacob Massoth, a former Muncie police sergeant — "for their hard work in helping bring Chavez to justice."

Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: After 11 years, motorist accused of striking Muncie child is arrested