Bellevue Police arrested two suspects yesterday after an observant Officer learned the vehicle they were driving had been stolen twice in the same week. Yesterday at 2:45 p.m., a Bellevue Police Officer conducting a proactive retail theft emphasis patrol in the parking lot of the Home Depot noticed a vehicle that the Officer believed may have been stolen. The vehicle, a KIA, had a broken side window and a damaged ignition. The Officer was then contacted by a loss prevention Officer from the store and learned that two individuals who arrived in the vehicle were being watched by loss prevention officers inside the store. The officer called for additional backup and detained the two suspects as they exited the store.
Officers were able to contact the owner of the KIA, and it was then that police learned that the vehicle had been stolen by the suspects after the owner dropped the vehicle off at a dealership in Auburn on Saturday to have the window and ignition repaired after it had been previously stolen and recovered in Puyallup last Saturday.
Praising the officer’s keen instincts and tenacity in recovering the stolen vehicle, Bellevue Police Chief Wendell Shirley remarked, “I commend the officer in this case, whose intuition and persistence led to the recovery of this stolen vehicle and the arrest of those involved. Our close collaboration with retailers in Bellevue is pivotal to our effectiveness, and this is yet another testament to this partnership.”
Bellevue Beat Blog 