Good police work aided by the regional Vehicle Theft Task Force led to the arrest of a 26-year-old Enumclaw man connected with a prolific local auto-theft ring.
Samuel Grady Vankooten, 26, pleaded not guilty Monday in Pierce County Superior Court to unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, attempting to elude a pursuing police officer, obstructing a law enforcement officer and driving while in suspended or revoked status in the first degree.
“It was good communication between the task force and our patrol officers,” Auburn Police Sgt. David Colglazier said Tuesday.
At about 8:30 p.m. last Saturday, Auburn police were in the area of 182nd Avenue East and Lake Tapps Parkway East, working on an emphasis patrol to find a recent stolen vehicle. Based on information provided by the task force, they believed the area was a possible access point for a number of vehicles that had been stolen in Auburn or Bonney Lake and moved back and forth between the cities.
While setting up in the area, the officers saw an approaching gray Nissan truck matching the description of a recently stolen vehicle and consistent with those stolen by the people the task force was investigating.
When patrol cars pulled up behind the truck, it sped off, leading to a short pursuit that ended near Kelly Lake Drive when the driver slowed to a stop and tried to escape on foot. He didn’t get far before the pursuing officer caught up with him. When officers confirmed that the truck was stolen, they booked Vankooten on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle.
Because many of the crimes occurred in the portion of Auburn that is in Pierce County, Vakooten is being held in the Pierce County jail on $75,000 cash or bail bond.
“Our patrol officers took the initiative with the information they had and put it to work, and when they did, they got him. It was good, proactive work,” Colglazier said.
Car thefts here in King County have declined 56 percent since 2005 when the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office launched its Car Theft Initiative.
Just five years ago, King County ranked sixth in the nation in the rate of auto theft. The National Insurance Crime Bureau reported that for 2009, the Seattle-King County metropolitan region ranked 37 out of 366 regions in the number of stolen cars.
In 2005, the King County Prosecutor’s office created a special unit whose only purpose was to focus on car theft. The attorneys went into the field and talked to police officers, knowing that a good case begins with the patrolman on the street. And they instructed officers in the many little things they needed to do to make the charges stick.
They also worked with police to identify the 20 most prolific thieves in the region and then began to follow them.
Time and technology have given officers tools such as bait cars and sophisticated license plate readers to catch car thieves.
In the 2007 Legislative session, King County persuaded state lawmakers to change the sentencing guidelines. Today after the third car theft an offender goes to prison for 17 to 22 months; every theft thereafter nets the thief a 43-to-57 month sentence, or about four to five years. King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said the new “price tag” better reflects the danger car thieves represent to the general public.
