Published: April 22, 2008 07:57 am      

Man gets 20 years for auto theft leading to chase, manhunt

By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com

PALO PINTO – Approximately seven months after being discovered in a house-to-house search in Palo Pinto, a Port Aransas man pleaded guilty to an enhanced felony theft charge.

Jason Howard Auvenshine, 37, pleaded guilty last week to felony theft greater than or equal to $20,000 and less than $100,000. Typically a third-degree felony, the charge was enhanced to a first-degree felony.

Palo Pinto County Assistance District Attorney Kirk Martin explained that Auvenshine’s charge was initially bumped to a second-degree felony because of prior felony convictions.

The district attorney’s office filed an enhancement because of two convictions of burglary of habitations in the 1990s – one in Eastland County and one in Erath County, Martin explained.

Auvenshine pleaded guilty to the initial charge and “true” to the two enhancements. He received 20 years confinement, a $5,000 fine and court costs of $211. Martin said Auvenshine “had some credit for his time in Palo Pinto County Jail” as he’s been under arrest since his apprehension.

In September, Auvenshine stole a Ford F-250 four-wheel drive truck from a gas station at the intersection of U.S. Highway 281 South and Interstate 20 and headed to Palo Pinto on Farm-to-Market Road 4, followed by an undercover officer who was in the area at the time.

Auvenshine drove to Palo Pinto, where he encountered sheriff’s deputies. Attempting to flee, he left the roadway and drove into a resident’s yard, destroying a gatepost, two water hydrants and a tree before hitting a stump.

He fled the scene while his 37-year-old companion, Susan Darlene Cobern, of Port Aransas, was apprehended at the vehicle.

Auvenshine was apprehended later that evening in a lawn mower shed, after a house-to-house search was conducted. Several agencies were called in to assist the search, including the Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Department, county constables, Texas Department of Public Safety, DPS aircraft and the City/County Narcotics Unit.