A 24-year-old Benton man faces 14 charges after two hit-and-run crashes in the Benton area early Sunday morning.
Joseph S. Trevarthen is in the Lafayette County Jail on a probation hold. He faces two citations each of operating after revocation, open intoxicants, failure to keep a vehicle under control, operating without proof of insurance and failure to notify police of an accident, as well as charges of failure to stop at a stop sign, hit-and-run property adjacent to highway, unsafe lane change and littering.
One crash occurred on Main Street in Benton around 3 a.m., as reported by a resident who didn’t call authorities until finding vehicle parts in the resident’s yard nearly four hours later. The other crash occurred at Roaster Road and Lafayette County J in the Town of Benton around 3:47 a.m., according to the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department.
In the Town of Benton crash, Trevarthen was driving east on Roaster Road when he lost control on a curve, hit a stop sign, and then continued south on J, leaving vehicle parts at the crash scene, according to the sheriff’s department.
In the Benton crash, a car was driving east on Main Street when the car veered to the right and into a yard where it struck a tree, leaving numerous vehicle parts including a license plate, and then left the scene, according to the sheriff’s department.
Trevarthen and the 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer were found at a house on Third Avenue in Benton.
Trevarthen was on probation on a 2012 criminal damage to property charge, according to court records.
The Wisconsin State Patrol assisted the Sheriff’s Department.