Christopher Brian Mullenax, 40, of Morgantown, pleaded not guilty to a grand larceny charge at an arraignment hearing Sept. 22 before Judge Holepit in Monongalia County Magistrate Court.
According to the criminal complaint filed by West Virginia University Police Sgt. J.M. Ralston, on Aug. 15, a Ford F-350 was stolen from outside a fraternity house on Belmar Avenue in Morgantown.
The truck had been parked on the street and was left unlocked with the keys inside, the complaint said.
Later that evening, officers responded to the WVU Storage and Surplus Center in Westover for reports of a male walking around shirtless – that male was identified as Mullenax.
According to Ralston’s complaint, Mullenax “stated we were going to arrest him because he was up on Frat Hill being chased by dogs and police.”
Mullenax then said, “he was told to get into a truck by a large male and the male then drove him through town over 100 mph before crashing the vehicle,” the complaint said.
He told the officers he jumped out of the truck before it crashed in Westover, but the large male was the owner of the vehicle and “forced him into it.”
Ralston was able to obtain surveillance footage at the fraternity house from which the vehicle was stolen and it shows Mullenax getting into the driver’s seat of the vehicle and then speeding off down the road approximately two hours before he was encountered in Westover, the complaint said.
Mullenax is currently being held at North Central Regional Jail on $50,000 bond. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 10.
