Gig Harbor auto theft suspects play ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ and police get two for one
Gig Harbor police got a two-for-one deal when they arrested two auto theft suspects on Nov. 22. The arrest led to the recovery of one stolen car and the keys to another.
Officers said the man and woman, originally suspects in a shoplifting incident, were found to be driving a Nissan Altima stolen from a Sea-Tac rental company. In the car were found numerous stolen credit cards, which officers traced to an Auburn man who said they had been stolen along with his Jeep Cherokee.
A search of the driver, a 28-year-old Tacoma man, turned up a Jeep Cherokee key.
At that point, the man offered a deal. He’d lead police to the Jeep if they’d cite him for the auto theft rather than book him in jail.
The officers agreed, and the couple led them to a house in the 11200 block of Steele Street in Tacoma, where they found the badly damaged Jeep. Its windscreen had been smashed and all the tires flattened.
The man and his 26-year-old companion were released at the home, and the case was referred for prosecution.
Stolen Honda leads to shooting suspect
In another case, an auto theft investigation led to an arrest Dec. 6 of a 31-year-old Gig Harbor man wanted in connection with a shooting on the Key Peninsula, police reported.
An officer became suspicious of a black Honda Civic in the parking lot of Ross Dress for Less at 5500 Olympic Drive, according to the report, because the license plate did not match. At the same time, police received a report from the store about a woman who was shoplifting.
The officer blocked in the car and detained the driver and a 24-year-old woman who emerged from the store. A check of the VIN number revealed the Honda was stolen. The man had two stolen driver’s licenses and three stolen credit cards in his pocket, police said, and four outstanding felony warrants.
Pierce County sheriff’s deputies confirmed that the man was a suspect in a non-fatal shooting Nov. 11 on the Key Peninsula. According to Sgt. Darren Moss, the sheriff’s public information officer, two subjects robbed a male victim near 134th Court Northwest and 97th Avenue Northwest and shot him as they drove away. The victim suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
He was arrested and booked into the Pierce County Jail.
In other auto theft cases:
▪ A Lakewood man was arrested at a Gig Harbor gas station Nov. 1 when the car he was filling proved to be stolen. An officer noticed the car in the service station in the 7100 block of Pioneer Street had no plates and a trip permit that looked fake, police reported. When examined, the trip permit proved to be a photocopy, and the car’s VIN number had been spray-painted over. The 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of felony auto theft.
▪ A car stolen from Gig Harbor Nov. 26 was tracked by satellite to a residential neighborhood in Port Orchard, where it was recovered, police reported. The 2020 Subaru Ascent was taken from a home in the 10500 block of Sentinel Drive. The owner activated the car’s on-board tracking system, which led officers to an address in the 3900 block of Bethel Avenue in Port Orchard. No arrests have been made.
▪ A car reported stolen in Port Orchard was found abandoned behind an office supply store in the 5100 block of Borgen Boulevard. The gray Honda CR-V had been stripped of its plates. It was towed and returned to its owner.
This story was originally published December 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.