LAKE STEVENS — A 26-year-old woman discovered her Jeep had been broken into, so she used a phone app to track down the suspect.
She found him, and he had more than her Michael Kors bag in his car. There also was a stolen handgun and two cases that appeared to hold rifles.
A 34-year-old Granite Falls man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a stolen firearm and other property.
On May 18, Janelle Drews made a quick stop at Jay’s Market in Lake Stevens. One of her doors was unlocked while she was inside the grocery store. She came outside a few minutes later to find her car ransacked and her purse missing from the front seat. Her phone, wallet and medications for her dog were inside her purse. Drews said there were tire marks near her car, as if someone had sped away.
A bystander told Drews that a man had been watching her as she walked into the market. He waited until she was inside to rifle through her Jeep. The suspect drove off in a black Volkswagen Jetta with a back window smashed out.
Drews called 911. A Lake Stevens officer gave her a statement form and suggested she fill it out.
“I thought there has got to be something better than file a report,” said Drews, who agreed to speak with the newspaper about the case.“We took matters into our own hands to make sure this man doesn’t get away with it.”
Drews’ fiance tracked her phone using the “Find My Phone” app. According to the tracker, the suspect was less than five miles away. The couple drove to 49th Street NE in Marysville.
They approached a group of three houses that were under construction. A black Jetta with a broken window was parked in a driveway. Drews parked her car behind the Jetta, blocking in the suspect, and called police.
The suspect gave police permission to look inside his car. An officer spotted Drews’ purse, as well as a handgun that was tucked between the front passenger seat and the door, according to a probable cause affidavit. The gun had been stolen in a burglary, police said. A couple of rifles were reported stolen from that same burglary.
Police found two gun cases in the backseat of the Jetta, according to court papers.
Lake Stevens police Sgt. Dean Thomas asked that anyone whose phone has been stolen to contact police before tracking the suspect. If someone uses an app to find their stolen phone, a police officer can go to the location.
“It’s a huge safety concern,” Thomas said. “This time it worked out OK, but please, please, please call the police.”
Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins@heraldnet.com.
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