Man who crashed into Walgreens after chase with deputies pleads guilty

GILLETTE — A man who led Sheriff’s deputies on a chase through Gillette that caused more than $10,000 in damage has pleaded guilty and had a sentencing enhancement dropped that could have put him in prison for life.

Rusty D. Locke, 44, pleaded guilty May 30 to aggravated eluding and no contest to aggravated assault and battery. District Judge Stuart S. Healy III found Locke guilty of each count and withdrew a habitual criminal sentencing enhancement that carried a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Counts of failure to register and misdemeanor unauthorized use of a vehicle were dismissed, per plea negotiations.

In a plea deal, prosecutors recommend an imposed eight- to 10-year sentence for the aggravated assault conviction and an imposed 4.5 to five years for aggravated eluding to run concurrently.

He also agreed to pay restitution for all damages and reserved the right to argue for a lesser punishment at his sentencing hearing Aug. 29.

Earlier in May, Locke pleaded guilty at a change of plea hearing to felony counts of taking a controlled substance into jail, crystal meth possession and misdemeanor fentanyl possession from a May 2022 case unrelated to the truck chase.

District Judge James M. “Mike” Causey dismissed misdemeanor counts of heroin and liquid meth possession, per plea negotiations.

Prosecutors recommend an imposed 3.5- to five-year sentence for the felony meth charge and a concurrent two to three years for taking drugs into jail. They also recommend an imposed 180-day jail sentence for the misdemeanor conviction to run concurrent.

His sentencing before Causey is Aug. 15.

Between the two cases, Locke faces 11.5 to 15 years in prison.

Locke also agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor meth possession from a 2021 case in exchange for a 90-day jail sentence to run concurrent to the prison time. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss misdemeanor counts of hit and run, leaving the scene of a crash and speeding.

The truck chase began about 9 a.m. March 6 when a Sheriff’s deputy saw Locke turn onto Highway 59 from Ninth Street in a green 2017 Dodge Ram 1500, driving 36 mph in a 30 mph zone. The deputy put on his overhead lights and Locke drove into the McDonald’s parking lot on Camel Drive.

While driving in the parking lot, Locke sped up quickly and pulled around the backside of McDonald’s through the drive-thru lane, hit a curb and ran into an unoccupied 2006 Ford Mustang, which then slid into an empty 2012 Chevy Equinox, according to court documents.

He also hit a white 2017 Nissan Rogue before taking off onto Camel Drive headed toward Campbell County High School.

Locke then turned north onto Green Avenue then east onto 12th Street, then north onto Elon Avenue. He drove through parking lots and alleys on his way to Stanley Avenue and turned west onto 12th Street.

He then cut north onto Gurley Avenue, east onto Ninth Street and sped to Butler-Spaeth Road, where he lost control and spun out into a yard, hitting a mailbox. While making his way back onto the road, he spun his tires in the yard and re-entered the street, colliding with a white 2008 Chevy Silverado. While speeding south on Butler-Spaeth Road, Locke was clocked driving 90 mph on the 30 mph road.

He then cut west onto Country Club Road all the way to Highway 59, where he drove across the road and into the Walgreens parking lot. Locke and a woman in the cab left the truck in drive and fled on foot, according to court documents.

The truck ran into a curb in the parking lot where it got stuck. A deputy chased Locke on foot back across Highway 59 and into the Dairy Queen parking lot, where Locke was arrested with help from police.

He had a Campbell County warrant for bond revocation on an original charge of meth possession and a Natrona County warrant for violating an active protection order, according to court documents.

The 24-year-old woman with Locke during the chase was contacted in the Walgreens parking lot and ultimately released.

The damage from the chase was estimated at more than $10,000.

Deputies found that Locke had not added the pickup truck he was driving to his sex offender registry with the Sheriff’s Office.

The truck was registered to a 64-year-old man who was in the Campbell County Detention Center. Deputies talked to the man in jail and he said that he gave his keys to another man, not Locke, and that he didn’t know who Locke was.

When told that his truck was involved in the chase and most likely totaled, he got very angry and suspected it had been stolen.

A Gillette police officer told the deputy who signed the affidavit of probable cause that Locke had tried hitting him with his truck during the chase, just before Locke crashed into the yard on Butler-Spaeth Road. The officer’s patrol car was parked against the curb and he said Locke made eye contact with him before driving his direction, swerving toward him but losing control and narrowly missing the patrol car, according to court documents.

A Walgreens manager told police that Locke hit the corner of the Walgreens building.

The earlier charges come from May 9, 2022 when a Sheriff’s deputy pulled over a green Ford Excursion as it turned onto Second Street from Gillette Avenue and veered out of its lane.

A drug dog indicated on the passenger side of the car where Locke was. He was searched and deputies found two baggies with suspected 0.58 grams of heroin and 0.97 grams of meth, according to court documents.

A search of the vehicle found a bag with a loaded syringe with 1 gram of liquid meth, several used syringes, a browned q-tip, a digital scale and two “M30” oxycodone pills suspected to be “roxies” containing fentanyl.

Locke was arrested and at the jail, “was not walking as one normally would walk” when another bag containing 8 grams of suspected meth fell from his pants, according to court documents.