Mar 21, 2017 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – An Ohio man reported to be a suspect in a homicide investigation in West Virginia, who was arrested Sunday by state police following a high-speed chase on Interstate 79 near Waynesburg, continued to be held Tuesday in Greene County jail on a federal detainer.

The man, who Pennsylvania State Police originally identified under an alias of James Hurmon Gunter, 56, of Toledo, is listed in jail records as Michael Deandre Wesley, 45, a jail official said Tuesday morning.

Wesley is being held on $30,000 bond on a charge filed by state police of fleeing or attempting to elude police in connection after his vehicle was stopped near Waynesburg. He also is being held on a $100,000 bond related to a federal arrest warrant issued in Ohio. No arrest warrant has been issued out of West Virginia, the jail official said.

Wesley was arrested at 6:20 p.m. on I-79 after state police used spike strips to deflate the tires of his vehicle. Police said Wesley had been carelessly weaving in and out of traffic and was driving at speeds exceeding 100 mph.

Police said they had been asked to assist the Mon-Metro Drug Task Force, based in Morgantown, W.Va., in the pursuit of Wesley’s vehicle and were told the driver of the vehicle was a suspect in a homicide investigation.

A person who answered the telephone Tuesday at the Mon-Metro Drug Task Force declined to comment. Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Daniel Barnhart, who filed the fleeing charges, could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the federal court in Northern Ohio confirmed there is a warrant for Wesley in a 2015 credit card fraud case. He and a woman are accused of re-coding used gift cards, debit cards and credit cards with fraudulently acquired informaton of others and using them to make purchases at numerous stores in several states.

The only homicide reported in recent days in northern West Virginia was a double homicide Sunday in Fairmont, W.Va.

According to news accounts, two men, one 21 and the other 31, were found dead about 4:15 p.m. Sunday, inside an apartment on Satterfield Street. Fairmont City police said the victims, who have not been identified, recently moved to Fairmont from Detroit. Evidence of drug manufacturing was found within the home, according to news reports.

Neither the Fairmont City police Chief Steve Shine nor Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Freeman could be reached Tuesday for comment.

Wesley will have a preliminary hearing on the fleeing charge before District Judge Glenn Bates on March 29.