A 20-year-old Modesto man was jailed on the first day of the year after he led a Ceres Police officer on a nightly chase and got his vehicle stuck in a field.

At 11:56 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 1, Officer Charles Lord-Huff was patrolling the area of Pecos Avenue near Seventh Street when he attempted to stop Marcus Villela, the driver of a burgundy-colored Kia Optima, for vehicle code violations. Villela accelerated in an attempt to get away. The pursuit led officers south through Ceres and into the county until Villela got stuck in a field on Carpenter Road near Keyes Road.

Villela was arrested and a juvenile passenger was later released to family.

Villela was booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of evading police in a vehicle, traveling the wrong way of the road while fleeing and child endangerment.