CREAL SPRINGS – Williamson County Sheriff’s deputies Wednesday afternoon arrested a man who has been on the run for over a year after they saw a U-Haul rental van he was in going north on Illinois 166 near Boundary Road in Creal Springs pulling a homemade trailer without vehicle registration.
According to the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, Bryan J. Blankenship was cited for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Obstructing Identification. He was taken to and lodged in the Williamson County Jail.
Deputies pulled the vehicle Blankenship was a passenger in over just before 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. While speaking to the occupants, Blankenship provided a fake name and claimed to be from California.
Deputies saw several discrepancies in the information provided and eventually identified the passenger as Blankenship.
Blankenship was discovered to have an outstanding Illinois Department of Corrections Parole Violation Warrant which had been issued on Dec. 28, 2022.
Blankenship stated he had provided the fake name as an alias to several law enforcement officers during the past 16 months to avoid capture.
Blankenship was taken into custody at which time deputies located drug paraphernalia in his pocket.
He was then cited for the offenses we mentioned earlier and taken to jail.
