The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office has reported the extradition of a Chillicothe man from the Western Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center in Saint Joseph to Grundy County. Fifty-one-year-old John Paul Ashford Junior was arrested on February 9.
He faces charges including felonies of driving while revoked or suspended and resisting arrest, detention, or stop by fleeing. Additionally, he is charged with misdemeanors for exceeding the posted speed limit, driving on the left side of the road when the view was obstructed by a hill or curve, and passing a vehicle and interfering with approaching traffic. He is also charged with an infraction for failure to display plates on a motor vehicle or trailer.
Ashford is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear in the Associate Division of Grundy County Circuit Court on February 13.
Court documents allege that Ashford operated a motor vehicle on Highway 65 on September 11, while his operator’s license was suspended or revoked under state law. He is accused of resisting arrest by fleeing at high speed when a law enforcement officer attempted to arrest him for felony driving while suspended or revoked, traveling 117 miles per hour in a 60-mile-per-hour zone.
Furthermore, Ashford is accused of passing another vehicle on the left when approaching the crest of a grade and on a curve of the highway where his view was obstructed, creating a hazard for vehicles approaching from the opposite direction. He allegedly passed another vehicle on the left when the road was not clear of oncoming traffic, thereby interfering with the safe operation of vehicles approaching from the opposite direction.
Court documents also indicate that Ashford failed to display the license plate or set of license plates issued by the director of revenue for that motor vehicle.
Previous court records show that Ashford pleaded guilty in Livingston County Circuit Court in August 2023 to driving while suspended, in July 2022 to careless and imprudent driving, in DeKalb County Circuit Court in September 2017 to operating a motor vehicle without a valid license, was convicted in Caldwell County Circuit Court in March 2017 of driving while revoked or suspended, in Livingston County Circuit Court in January 2017 of resisting arrest, detention, or stop by fleeing, and in September 2013 of distributing, delivering, manufacturing, or producing or attempting to possess with intent to distribute, deliver, manufacture, or produce a controlled substance.
