Two arrested after standoff

A pair of Rapid City men are in the Pennington County Jail on a variety of charges following a standoff in southern Custer  County.
At about 7 a.m. Saturday, March 8, citizens reported two men in a vehicle were burglarizing the Sunshine Storage units south of Custer.
The original witnesses  began to follow the vehicle as it left the storage units, with Custer County Sheriff Marty Mechaley saying the witnesses could not get a license number on the vehicle because the plates were covered. It was later learned the truck the two men were in had been stolen Feb. 25 from Jack’s Campers in Piedmont.
The witnesses followed the suspect vehicle from the storage units and lost sight of it south of Pringle.
A deputy from the Custer County Sheriff’s Office arrived in the area and saw tracks from the truck go into a cul de sac and then continue into a field. The deputy eventually found the truck, which the men had abandoned. Reports also came in of two men walking on private property.
Mechaley said when deputies arrived at the abandoned vehicles there were gun cases laying near the vehicle, which made deputies initially suspect the two men were armed.
Deputies followed the men’s footsteps in the snow, and also requested drone assistance from Custer County Search and Rescue (SAR). SAR  arrived on scene and used the drone to track the footsteps, which led to a horse shed. Two sets of footprints went into the shed, but none came out.
Deputies set up a perimeter around the shed, and the sheriff’s office used their vehicle’s public address system to announce they were there and that the two men should come out of the shed with their hands up. There was no response.
Eventually, Mechaley made a call to Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller, who organized having Pennington County’s Special Response Team (SRT), consisting of both sheriff’s office and Rapid City Police Department members, come to the scene.
Once SRT arrived and the unit’s BearCat armored vehicle arrived at the shed the two men came out one by one and were arrested without incident. There were burglary tools found on their person, and drug paraphernalia and suspected controlled substances were found in the shed in which the two had been hiding.
The two men, Jonathon Martin Chamley, 50,  and Gabriel Terrance Garcia, 47, were taken into custody around 1:45 p.m. and later transported to the Pennington County Jail, where they remain held with no bond.
Both men have lengthy criminal records in Pennington and Meade Counties. Among the charges the men face from the Custer County incident are burglary in the third degree, possession of a stolen vehicle, grand theft of a firearm, and possession of a firearm after a prior felony drug conviction. Additional charges may be pending as the investigation continues, which will include taking inventory of the stolen goods in the truck.
Chamley already had a warrant out for his arrest from Pennington County for a litany of charges, including failure to appear, DUI, and multiple charges for possession of a controlled substance. Garcia has charges out of Pennington County that include obstruction, robbery, burglary and being a fugitive from justice.
Among the other entities that responded to the incident were the South Dakota Highway Patrol and Custer Ambulance Service. Mechaley said he appreciated the cooperation of all entities involved, and praised his deputies—some of whom were not working at the time—for responding to the scene.
There were no injuries at the scene, Mechaley said, save for a cut to one of the hands of a deputy.