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Published May 01, 2012, 07:00 AM

UPDATED: Car-jacking suspect identified as Minneapolis man

A 31-year-old Minneapolis man is being held by Dunn County authorities on $50,000 cash bond, awaiting arraignment Thursday on charges of felony car theft, taking a person hostage, robbery and false imprisonment. The charges stem from an incident at started in the town of Sherman and ended in a Pierce County corn field.

Dunn County authorities said Monday they're holding Jonlee J. Goers, 31, of Minneapolis pending his arraignment Thursday, May 3rd, on a variety of felony charges.

Jonlee was arrested by a St. Croix County deputy and his canine partner Friday night in a Town of El Paso corn field at least 20 miles south of where the alleged crimes were committed.

Authorities allege Jonlee went to the home of Steffen Demeter in the Dunn County town of Sherman and forced Demeter, at knife-point, to drive him away.

Demeter drove the vehicle into St. Croix County where he was able to escape unharmed when he stopped at the Kwik-Trip store just north of I-94 at Hwy. 128.

Earlier in the evening, the suspect had also been in a pursuit with a Glenwood City police officer after stealing a rental car from a Twin Cities outlet.

He apparently escaped and went to Demeter's home.

Goers allegedly told the victim that he was high on methamphetamine and was carrying a gun, although no other weapon was seen.

A St. Croix County deputy in the area, spotted the car and gave chase, traveling south on Hwy. 128 out of familiar territory into Pierce County. Radio transmissions from the deputy to his dispatcher in Hudson indicated the chase reached speeds of 100 mph.

At least twice, the deputy announced that he could see the suspect throwing items from the moving car.

The suspect vehicle traveled south into and through Elmwood, heading west on Hwy. 72 toward Ellsworth, running several stop signs in the process. The deputy told his dispatcher that traffic was light and road conditions dry during the chase.

An Ellsworth police officer headed several miles out of town and laid a tire deflation device across the road but the suspect apparently spotted it and swerved through a ditch, missing the stop-sticks and turned back eastbound on 72.

As a Spring Valley officer headed to intercept the chase, the suspect turned south onto CTH BB, then onto 330th Street -- a dead-end, gravel road. A short time later the deputy announced the suspect had turned into a corn field and radio contact was lost.

The deputy last announced his location as N5017, a property listed to Jerome Hines, San Mateo, Calif.

After several tense minutes of radio silence, the deputy reported that he a suspect in custody. Pierce officers arrived a short time later.

The suspected was taken by ambulance to the Red Cedar Mayo Medical Center in Menomonie for evaluation and then to the Dunn County Jail. The car was towed by Melstrom's to the Dunn County Sheriff's Department impound lot.

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