Iowa residents arrested in Coal City after chase with police

Coal City police and Grundy County Sheriff’s deputies arrested two Iowa residents Thursday who fled police in a vehicle reported as stolen.

Police said in a Thursday news release that Robert S. White, 53, and Katelyn E. Boren, 26, both of Iowa, were arrested after the chase.

White is charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing and eluding, driving with a revoked license, obstructing an officer, and on a warrant for vehicle theft out of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

He’s being held in the Grundy County Jail awaiting extradition to Iowa. Boren was charged with obstructing an officer and given a notice to appear in court.

Grundy County received a notice from a Flock camera near Lorenzo Road and Interstate 55 that a 2025 Mazda marked as stolen from Council Bluffs was found unoccupied in a wooden area on South First Avenue in Coal City, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies and Coal City police officers searched the area with dogs and drones, but didn’t find any offenders, according to the news release. Police called off their search around 11:30 p.m.

An officer was called around 6 a.m. Thursday to a home on Campbell Drive in Richards Crossing for the report of a stolen garbage can. The resident shared video of two people taking a garbage can around 2 a.m., and police said they thought the two who took the garbage can were the people who allegedly stole the vehicle.

Police said they focused their search area in the northwest portion of Richards Crossing north of Spring Road, a wooded area, and found the garbage can lying on its side at 10:40 a.m. Police said they found White and Boren hiding inside the can.

Both followed commands and were arrested, and police said White had the vehicle’s keys.