Snowmobile shopper finds his rig on Craigslist

Published 10:50 pm Monday, October 20, 2008

STANWOOD — A snowmobile enthusiast shopping to replace a stolen rig found more than he was expecting when he responded to a Craigslist ad.

The ad helped lead police to a Stanwood man who they say stole the victim’s snowmobile, then bragged about it and showed off on his MySpace page.

“These are fun cases in the auto theft world,” Washington State Patrol Sgt. E.J. Swainson said.

He’s in charge of the newly formed Snohomish County Auto Theft task force, the group that followed the online leads and developed a case against the 20-year-old.

“There are so many victims and unfortunately we can’t solve all the cases,” Swainson said. “This is a fun case because it started coming together with great detective work.”

The Craigslist ad caught the victim’s attention when it advertised parts for the same snowmobile make and model year that had been stolen in January. The thief had taken a trailer with the man’s snowmobile and two more rigs belonging to friends.

The man, from the Wenatchee area, called a phone number on the ad and became suspicious when the seller had very little knowledge about snowmobiles, Swainson said.

“The seller didn’t have a clue about what he was talking about,” he said.

The victim called police on Oct. 14 and the county auto theft task force was put on the case. Monroe police detective Paul Ryan picked up the trail.

Ryan linked the Craigslist ad to a Stanwood address, and then found the MySpace page. That’s where the detective found photos of the suspect and his friends apparently riding the stolen snowmobiles.

“We love that stuff,” Swainson said. “So we investigated.”

While the Craigslist ad featured stock photos of the snowmobile, the photos on the MySpace page included images of the rigs that were reported stolen. The victim recognized after-market details in the MySpace photos: Yellow and blue blades, the colors of his favorite Michigan Wolverines college football team, and a sticker in memory of a friend.

On the MySpace page, one photo caption read, “riding all filthy,” which is slang for using stolen goods, Swainson said.

Police on Friday served a search warrant at the Stanwood man’s home and recovered parts from two of the stolen snowmobiles and the trailer. Detectives also found a shotgun and drug paraphernalia, the court document said.

The man surrendered to police on Saturday. He allegedly admitted to detectives that he stole the trailer and the snowmobiles from the Wenatchee area. He broke the rigs into parts for sale, the document said.

“This is as far away from joyriding as you can get,” Swainson said. “This is professional activity.”

The Stanwood man, a convicted felon, was booked into jail for investigation of four counts of possession of a stolen vehicle, four counts of trafficking in stolen property and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

A judge on Monday maintained bail at $105,000.

The recovered snowmobiles are scheduled to be returned to the owners, but probably will only be good for parts, Swainson said.

“There’s very little left,” he said.

In the past two weeks, since the task force has been operating, they’ve recovered more than a dozen stolen vehicles, arrested five people and helped lead the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force to arrest a man and seize 3 pounds of marijuana, 113 grams of cocaine, seven firearms and $30,000 in cash.

“Obviously, it’s a great success for the citizens of Snohomish county,” Swainson said.

Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.