Gridley man who stole truck to sell for drug money gets 5 years in prison
PHOTO: Butte County DA’s Office
A Gridley man has been sentenced to five years in state prison in connection to an incident in which he tried to steal a truck to sell for drugs and seriously injuring the owner who tried to stop him.
On July 10 of this year, 24-year-old John Dudley Pilgram reportedly stole a truck that was parked outside an auto shop in Gridley, intending to sell it for heroin money.
The truck’s owner and his coworkers heard the truck start up and take off, and gave chase in one of the shop’s vehicles.
When they caught up to Pilgram just outside Gridley, where he’d momentarily stopped to avoid a collision, the owner ran up to the truck, opened the driver’s side door, and tried to get Pilgram out.
Pilgram then accelerated, dragging the owner along with the vehicle at a speed of up to 45 MPH. At that point he was able to release himself and fell to the pavement, resulting in severe road abrasions to most of his body, a head laceration, a dislocated shoulder, and an injured hip. He was later airlifted to a trauma center.
Pilgram, for his part, eventually abandoned the vehicle in Yuba City.
He was soon thereafter arrested on a warrant for auto theft causing great bodily injury. It also turned out that he was on probation for a previosu DUI conviction.
Following his incarceration at Butte County Jail, he got into a fistfight, for which he received an additional charge of battery.
In addition to his prison sentence, Pilgram has been ordered to pay the victim just over $27,000 in restitution for damage to the truck, medical costs, and lost wages.
