An Illinois teen-ager may be charged with leading Department of Public Safety officers on a high-speed chase early Monday morning.

DPS officials said a man stole a Gumby’s pizza-delivery car and led police on a chase that ended with the car being wrapped around a utility pole in west Ames.

About 1:45 a.m. Monday, someone stole the Gumby’s car — a 1995 red Probe GT — near the arches of Friley Hall. DPS officials said they will charge Ian D. Carter, 18, of Rockford, Ill., with auto theft, in addition to several other counts.

“My driver [Brad Aswegan] went to drop off a pizza at Friley and turned around, and his car was taking off without him,” said Kees Vermeulen, general manager of Gumby’s Pizza, 526 Main St. “He left it running, but that is what we usually do. You don’t expect this to happen — you’re going to be back in it in about a minute.”

DPS officials said someone took the car from Friley Hall to a parking lot in Hawthorn Court.

“We set up surveillance in that area for about an hour [when] someone jumped into the car and drove away,” said Loras Jaeger, director of DPS.

Jaeger said the driver went over several grassy areas at Hawthorn Court to get away from pursuing officers.

“The driver went onto Stange Road and 13th Street and ended up on R38, or County Line Road,” Jaeger said.

The Ames Police Department assisted in the pursuit after the driver went out of DPS’s jurisdiction, Jaeger said. The police chased the car at speeds in excess of 60 mph until the car hit a utility pole near Litzel Lumber, 3705 Lincoln Way.

The car was totaled in the incident, Jaeger said. Carter was taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center for observation.

Jaeger said once Carter is released from the hospital, he will be taken to the Ames Police Department and will be charged with auto theft, failure to yield to a police car, reckless driving, criminal mischief, carrying a concealed weapon and several other traffic offenses.

Jaeger said a .38-caliber revolver was found on Carter at the time of the arrest, although he never attempted to use it.

Vermeulen said the stolen car was owned by Aswegan, junior in computer engineering, and not the business.

“Gumby’s does not supply cars,” Vermeulen said. “I’m not in any way responsible for it. It was around 2 a.m., and we were closing in a half an hour. … I threw in an extra $10 for what he would have made in that last half hour, but other than that, he called his insurance company and they’re going to give him a loaner.”

Vermeulen said Aswegan will work in the store if he doesn’t get a rental car by Sunday, his next scheduled work day.

“I’ve been general manager for three months and nothing has happened like this since I’ve been general manager,” he said. “Another driver had his truck stolen a week ago, but he wasn’t working. He’s been working in the store. I have two drivers in … a week without a car.”