A 61-year-old Salem man has been sentenced to prison after entering guilty pleas in Marion County Court to a burglary to a Salem business as well as possession of a stolen vehicle and retail theft following an earlier high speed police chase.
Earl Morlan received three years on the burglary charge and five years apiece on the possession of stolen vehicle and retail theft charges. All will run concurrently with an eight year federal bank robbery sentence handed down last week in connection with a January 2023 hold up of the Southern Illinois Bank at Sesser. Morlan will also receive 504 days credit for time served in jail awaiting action on the charges and will have to complete one year mandatory supervised release when getting out of prison.
Morlan was just charged with the burglary to DJ’s Party Supply on West Main in Salem prior to entering the plea. That burglary occurred on January 29th last year, just two days before the bank robbery. The possession of stolen vehicle and retail theft charges date from a May 2021 high speed chase through Jefferson and Marion County that ended in Salem after stop sticks were used to flatten the tires on the stolen pickup Morlan was driving. The felony retail theft charge was filed after he allegedly left a Central City convenience store without pay for gas and cigarettes before the chase began.
Morlan also still faces charges in Franklin County surrounding the same bank robbery that was also charged in federal court. The federal judge ordered any sentence handed down in the Franklin County chase also run concurrently to the eight year federal prison term.
