The man wanted in the criminal confinement and robbery of an elderly Franklin couple was found in eastern Indiana, was suspected of being on drugs and had possibly broken into a home, police said.
Reese L. Keith, 27, of Indianapolis, was arrested Saturday in Richmond. He is not facing charges from the incident in Richmond and was brought to the Johnson County jail this weekend. Police had been looking for him in southern Marion and northern Johnson counties since an elderly couple was tied up in their home and robbed at gunpoint May 15.
Richmond police were called to a home on the south side of the city at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on the report of a residential burglary in progress, Maj. Jon Bales said.
Officers found a man outside who initially gave them a false name. He may have been inside the vacant home, but nothing was missing, Bales said.
Franklin police had alerted other Indiana police departments to be on the lookout for Keith, and
Richmond police identified him as the suspect wanted in Johnson County after he gave officers his real name and matched the photograph of the suspect that police had released, Bales said.
Keith behaved in a way that made Richmond police suspect that he was on drugs, and he had seizure-like activity while being transported, Bales said. Officers took him to Reid Health in Richmond, and he was evaluated by a doctor and cleared to be taken to jail, Bales said. He had shaved his head since police began searching for him.
Bales didn’t know how or why Keith had traveled to Richmond or what, if any, ties he had to the area. He was brought back to Johnson County on Sunday, Sheriff Doug Cox said.
Police say he broke into a Franklin home late afternoon on May 15 after walking away from Johnson Memorial Hospital, located across the street, earlier that morning. Greenwood police had left him at the hospital when a doctor admitted him for treatment after he suffered two seizures and complained of pain following a car crash.
Greenwood police had placed him under arrest but had to seek medical care for him on May 14 after he ran from the crash and was driving a stolen vehicle, according to court documents. Drug paraphernalia was in the vehicle and Keith had syringes in his pocket when they found him, the reports said.
He has been charged with burglary, armed robbery, criminal confinement and unlawful possession of a syringe, all felonies, and misdemeanor charges of providing a false identity, operating a vehicle while intoxicated/endangering a person, conversion and leaving the scene of an accident.
Keith is held in the Johnson County jail on $67,000 bond. He will have an initial hearing on the multiple felony and misdemeanor charges he is facing in Johnson Superior Court 2 next week.
