Granite Falls man tells cops he stole 100 cars for the ride

EVERETT — By his own account, Caleb Bradley has swiped 100 cars since August — an average of five a week.

As far as Snohomish County Auto Theft Task Force detectives can tell, his estimate is likely accurate.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested the Granite Falls man, 20, Tuesday in a 2008 Honda Civic that had been reported stolen. He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on four counts of auto theft, but that’s a starting point for now, police say. The investigation is continuing.

Detectives believe Bradley pocketed valuables from many of the stolen cars to feed a heroin habit. They don’t suspect any of the vehicles he took were stripped for parts.

“He literally stole them to get from Point A to Point B,” auto theft task force detective Eric Fagan said. “It was easier for him to just take a Honda to go where he wanted to go than to catch a ride with a friend or wait for a bus.”

Bradley candidly spoke of his five-month spree and shared the tools of the trade with detectives, according to court papers.

He allegedly explained that he used shaved keys he called “jigglers” to break into Hondas — a perennially popular target among car thieves. The top two most stolen vehicles in Washington state in 2012 were older-model Honda Accords and Civics.

Bradley said he only used his jigglers on Hondas. Other cars he would steal because their owners would leave an extra key inside.

“It’s very common,” Fagan said. “For whatever reason, people keep an extra key in their cars.”

Bradley allegedly detailed the spate of four-wheel felonies in an interview with an auto theft task force detective. The Honda he was in when arrested was stolen from a Menzel Lake Road address between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. Tuesday, he reportedly said.

Two days earlier, he allegedly stole a Toyota Camry from Lynnwood and left it in the Fred Meyer parking lot in Monroe.

In Monroe, he reportedly boosted a blue Honda with a key in it and then switched the plates with another Honda to try to avoid detection.

“Bradley told me that if he is going to keep the cars for more than one night he will switch the plates,” the detective wrote in a report.

Police were able to track down one of the stolen cars on S. Alder Avenue in Granite Falls. Bradley said he’d parked the car there. He also reportedly provided the key.

He told the detective that he often drove cars he stole to Granite Falls and parked them in visible spots so they could be found. Many of the cars he ditched were recovered and returned to their owners.

Granite Falls police has recovered 19 stolen cars since August in their city. During the same period, 33 vehicles were reported stolen.

Bradley also mentioned a white Honda he allegedly stole from Marysville in October. He directed officers to Scotty Road near Granite Falls. Sure enough, nearly three months later, it was still there.

In another instance, he said, he tried to steal a Honda from 134th Place NE in Marysville. He needed to get to court.

Bradley said he ran off when the steering wheel locked and a man began to approach him. Fearing that police were on their way, he said, he spotted another Honda just a block away and stole it, court papers said.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.