Burglary suspect who ran from hospital tackled by law enforcement, taken to jail
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IDAHO FALLS — A burglary suspect who jumped out a second-story window of a home and left a local hospital earlier this week has been caught again.
The Idaho Falls Police Department had been searching for Timothy Brian Wardas, 44, after he was allegedly involved in a burglary on Sunday. Police had caught him, but he then later fled from a medical facility.
Wardas was found shortly before 4 p.m. on Tuesday. He was found at a gas station at 1300 West Broadway with the help of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Idaho Department of Corrections Probation and Parole.
Idaho Falls Police spokeswoman Jessica Clements said an Idaho Falls Police detective and a Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy responded to a gas station and found Wardas running out of it.
Officers chased Wardas and yelled out that they were law enforcement and told him to stop. Wardas did not obey and was eventually tackled by the deputy and detective, according to Clements. Wardas was then placed in handcuffs.
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The burglary
The burglary incident happened on Sunday around 1:30 p.m. at a home in the 2000 block of Rendezvous Drive.
According to court documents, video surveillance showed the man, who was later identified as Wardas, getting inside through a basement window. The resident was not home at the time and told police he did not recognize the intruder.
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Officers arrived at the scene and surrounded the home. They used a PA system to give Wardas commands to come outside as they prepared to enter.
Before officers could go into the home, a window on the second floor shattered from the inside, and glass fell onto officers, court documents said. Wardas then reportedly broke a second window on the second story of the home and jumped from that window.
He jumped fences and ended up in a backyard. Officers gave Wardas several commands to exit the backyard with his hands up, but he refused to comply, court documents said.
Wardas was ultimately tased as he tried to run away again. He was taken into custody. Law enforcement searched his pockets and found several hundred dollars with several financial transaction cards and hotel key cards. He had a knife that matched a knife set in the burglarized home, police said.
Police talked to Wardas, and he told police he had been at the house about one week before. He said a friend of the resident told him to come back to buy some narcotics, court documents said.
On Thursday, the homeowner contacted EastIdahoNews.com and told us that Wardas had never been to the house previously and that they didn’t know him.
Wardas also told police he sat on the rear patio for 30 minutes before seeing a basement window slightly ajar. He said he forced it open and went inside. He did not elaborate on what he did next and said he didn’t hear police officers’ announcements due to the security alarm going off.
Wardas told police that at one point, he tried to “escape” the house by throwing a dog bone at one of the windows, which shattered it. When that didn’t work, he broke out another window on the second floor, jumped out, and began jumping fences.
The officer asked about the money and cards he had, and Wardas said they were his but allegedly admitted to stealing the debit cards. He also admitted to stealing the knife but said, “It was for me,” when asked about why he had it, according to documents.
He admitted to smoking methamphetamine the night before but later said he had smoked it on Sunday. Wardas told police he was homeless and did manual labor but had not had work for a while.
Leaving the hospital and rearrest
Due to the tasing, officers transported Wardas to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for jail clearance. Because he had an injury on his neck during the incident, “he would need to be admitted as a patient to the hospital. He was released from custody and admitted into medical care,” court documents said.
Wardas later ran from the hospital against medical advice, and police apprehended him again.
According to the Idaho Falls Police Department, Wardas has been booked into the Bonneville County jail for misdemeanor resisting and obstructing arrest, a state parole felony agent’s warrant, and a felony IFPD warrant related to the burglary incident that happened on Sunday.
The IFPD warrant included charges of felony burglary, felony possession of financial transaction cards, felony malicious injury to property, and misdemeanor resisting and obstructing arrest.
He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 1 at 1 p.m. at the Bonneville County Courthouse.
Though Wardas has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.