MARION COUNTY — A 32-year-old Centralia man was sentenced Tuesday in Marion County court to three-years in prison in one of numerous felony cases dating back to 2011.

A Marion County jury had found TJ Howard guilty after he failed to appear at a February 2018 jury trial on two counts aggravated fleeing and eluding police and two counts driving while license suspended or revoked – all four counts are Class 4 felonies.

After twice fleeing prosecution on nearly 30 outstanding felony and traffic charges, Howard was captured in Wisconsin earlier this year.  He had previously fled prosecution on the same outstanding cases and was captured in California last summer.

While Howard was at-large the first time, the court ordered a portion of the nearly $65,000 combined bond he had posted on the numerous cases dating back to 2011 to be forfeited.

Since he was last captured, Howard has remained held in the Marion County Jail. In addition to the three-year prison sentence handed down Tuesday, Howard will have to serve on-year mandatory supervised release, and pay court costs. He will receive day for day credit and credit for time served.

Numerous outstanding cases remain against Howard that date back to a 2011 DUI case and extend through to a 2017 case on two Class 2 felony narcotics charges.

They include seven outstanding felony cases, four DUI cases and approximately 15 traffic violations.