ASHLAND — A Morrow County man who evaded officers in a chase spanning five counties last April changed his plea Monday after being jailed for more than a year.
Joshua Boucher, 44, of Mount Gilead, agreed to plead guilty to three of five charges filed against him in exchange for two dismissed charges and a consecutive prison sentence of four years.
Boucher will serve four years in prison for grand theft of a motor vehicle and two counts of failure to comply. Two other failure-to-comply charges were dismissed.
Boucher also faces a 17-count indictment based in Morrow County. Authorities there filed those charges — which include attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, robbery and other felonies — in February.
He was arraigned on Tuesday on those charges.
How did we get here?
Officers said Boucher was involved in the shooting of his wife on April 1, 2024 in Chesterville, a village in Morrow County.
He then led officers on a five-county chase that ultimately ended in Ashland County, where he was jailed since April 2, 2024.
Officers there found Boucher hiding behind a refrigerator in an unoccupied house in Loudonville after crashing his Toyota Camry into an ODOT truck, stealing another truck and driving off.
When Ashland County Deputy Curtis Hall rammed his vehicle into the truck Boucher drove, Boucher abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.
Authorities found him hiding behind a refrigerator in an unoccupied house in Loudonville.
He was sentenced Monday from charges that came from that hot pursuit.
The sentence from Ashland County also included a lifetime driver’s license suspension.
“When you’re driving like that, you shouldn’t have a license,” said Dave Stimpert, Ashland County Common Pleas Court Judge.
Boucher will likely serve his prison term from Monday’s sentence while the case in Morrow County courses through the court system.