Hopkinton schools locked down while police search for suspect

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A search for a man who police say was driving a stolen van led officials to lock nearby schools and delay dismissals, the Hopkinton police and school departments said this afternoon.

Around 11 a.m. today, Hopkinton police tried to pull over the van for speeding. The driver did not stop and fled on foot into the woods around Westfield Road.

At 4:50 p.m., two state troopers and a police dog found Joseph Patrick Gately, 40, of Mississippi, hiding in a residential garage. The van he had been driving was stolen from Connecticut and was connected to break-ins at a house there and in Holliston, police said.

The search included areas near town schools, and students were locked into those buildings during the investigation, police and school officials said in a joint statement. Student dismissal times were delayed by an hour so that parents could come to the school to pick up their children or meet them at their bus stops.

Gately is being held on $25,000 bail on charges including breaking and entering during the daytime with intent to commit a felony, receiving stolen property, and failure to stop for a police officer. He will be arraigned in Framingham District Court tomorrow morning, police said.

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