Chief reports two crimes

RITZVILLE — Police Chief Dave McCormick reported two unusual crimes during the Feb. 21 City Council meeting.

“Shortly after 10 o’clock on the morning of Feb. 14, Sgt. Cameron checked the storage units behind the Boxwood café,” he said. “The locking mechanism on one of the units had been cut with either a grinder or a bolt cutter.”

Although the unit with the severed lock was vacant, 19 units were burglarized through that one entrance.

“Burglars took a shovel and hoe from one of the units and broke through most of the inner sheetrock walls,” he said.

Yet, the only items reported missing were “wheat pennies” in one of the units, according to McCormick.

The chief also reported on a SUV that had been stolen at 6:30 a.m. Feb. 14.

A 2017 SUV was stolen from the hospital, he said. The vehicle belonged to an employee who had started the vehicle, then returned to the hospital.

Fifteen minutes later, when the employee came out, her vehicle was gone, he said.

The next day, Spokane police located the stolen vehicle.

The same subject — a woman who had been identified through officer contact the day before in Ritzville — admitted to taking the vehicle, McCormick said.

The chief didn’t disclose the woman’s name, even though she was booked into the Spokane County Jail for possession of a stolen vehicle.

According to McCormick, she told police, “I was cold and the car was running. So, I got in and drove to Spokane.”