Montgomery man charged with damaging township ditch

A Montgomery man has been charged in Rice County District Court after police say that he and a friend caused extensive damage to a ditch, culvert and adjacent roadway with their trucks in Wheatland Township.

According to the charging document, the incident was first spotted by a DNR conservation officer at around 4 a.m. March 31. The officer noticed two trucks off the side of the road, one stuck in the ditch and the other in a field.

The officer approached the scene and talked with two males, and quickly noticed that they were slurring their words and emitting a strong smell of an alcoholic beverage. The officer also noticed beer cans outside of the truck.

From the tracks in the field, the officer said it appeared somebody had been doing “donuts.” The other truck was stuck in the ditch up against the culvert, coated with mud on both sides and with trails leading back to the farm field.

A detective with the Rice County Sheriff’s Office spoke with Tyler Thomas Sluzacek, 29, who said that his truck had been driven into the ditch by a female friend later identified as “Hannah.” He said he was sitting in the rear left seat, though an officer noted that the seat was folded up.

Sluzacek’s story was undermined by a friend who had been on the scene and later admitted to a deputy that there was no female involved. He said the only individuals at the scene were, in fact, Sluzacek and the other man the DNR officer had originally conversed with.

Sluzacek has been charged with a single felony count of damage to property in the first degree, as the Wheatland Township Board estimated the damage to Township property from the incident to come in around $2,500.