Nick Cobb stands in the kitchen of the mobile home where his family lived until a hit-and run driver destroyed it on Jan. 11.

OCEAN PARK, Wash. — Sensing that something wasn’t quite right, a deputy in northeastern California Googled a suspicious-seeming man and ended up catching a Pacific County fugitive.

The Modoc County Sheriff’s Office arrested Ivan Dwain Roane Jr., 45, of Ocean Park, in early March on an outstanding warrant for hit-and-run, false reporting and tampering with a witness.

Pacific County authorities got a multistate warrant for Roane in February after trying to find him for more than a month. They suspect him of being the driver in a January collision that left an Ocean Park family homeless.

Police and court records reveal new details of the wreck and investigation, including allegations that Roane tried to bribe witnesses before running away from the crash — and also allegedly abandoned his dog and pigs when he took off for a remote area on the California-Oregon-Nevada border.

At about 9 p.m. on Jan. 11, a speeding black 1999 Mercedes registered to Roane veered off of Sandridge Road. It tore out four small trees in an empty lot and surged across 240th Place toward the single-wide mobile home, where Nick and Kelly Cobb lived with their two young children.

Nick Cobb, 25, was standing in his front yard. He barely had time to get out of the way as the Mercedes skidded sideways at the edge of the yard, briefly became airborne, and then slammed into his home, knocking it off of its foundation. A sheriff’s investigation concluded that the Mercedes was going at least 80 mph in a 45 mph zone.

“Had the vehicle not turned sideways, it would have driven through the home and would have likely struck an infant’s bedroom, with a five-month-old sleeping in his crib,” Deputy Sean Eastham wrote in his report.

No one was injured, but the collision caused an estimated $10,000 to $30,000 in damage.

Two months later, Nick Cobb and his family are still staying with his parents. The search for an affordable rental has been tough, but they’re optimistic they’ll find a new home soon.

Emergency responders found broken lines spraying water into the wrecked home. They also allegedly found a totaled car that “smelled heavily of beer” and had beer cans and “a puddle of spilled beer” on the driver’s side floor.

But they didn’t find the driver.

Roane, caught in California after a deputy found a Chinook Observer story about the collision, arrived back in Washington state last Friday and was booked into Pacific County Jail. He made bail and was released over the weekend.

Roane is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on Friday.