COLUMBUS, Kan. — Joseph Shipps, 44, of Sikeson, Missouri, was sentenced Thursday to nearly seven years imprisonment in Cherokee County District Court.
Shipps was found guilty by a jury of robbery, attempting to elude law enforcement and driving while suspended, following a two-day trial in November 2022, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
During the trial, prosecuted by Deputy Cherokee County Attorney Kurt Benecke, testimony and evidence was presented against Shipps for a December 2019 incident where he went to an area home and asked the homeowner to give him a ride to a nearby store. During the drive, a Cherokee County sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, at which point Shipps forced the man out of the vehicle and fled in it.
The deputy pursued Shipps into Oklahoma, where the Oklahoma Highway Patrol became involved in the pursuit, which ended when a tactical vehicle intervention maneuver was performed on the vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
Shipps was being held Thursday at the Cherokee County Jail pending transfer to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
