On Aug. 23 my son’s Toyota pickup truck was stolen from his place of residence in Lake Stevens. The police told him that he would probably get his truck back, but that it would most likely be stripped. He had worked many months to earn the money to put a new transmission into this truck.
On Sept. 8 he learned his truck had been found. The truck was sitting in a shed, on private property, behind a locked gate with a realtor’s lockbox on it. The police did not dust for prints or make any effort whatsoever to attempt to discover who might have brought the truck there. We went out to the property and found a truck frame, bare metal, sitting on the dirt, without tires, engine, transmission, exhaust system, suspension or anything else that was removable. The seats were gone as well as floor mats, stereo system, mirrors, headlights and even the decal off the rear window. We did find prints all over the body! When my son contacted the police again they told him to call the Lake Stevens police, who told him to call Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. He has been given a run-around since this all began.
This is not the first time stolen vehicles have been found on this property. Other people who live in Lake Stevens tell me that there is a ring of car thieves there and that this is a common crime. Yet a local newspaper listed this theft as a vehicle being “taken without permission”! This was not a case of a young kid taking the family car for a little drive; this was a crime about which nothing was done other than a demand that my son get his truck off the owner’s property as quickly as possible.
My question is this: if the police had discovered a meth lab or if the vehicle had belonged to one of their families, how much more effort would have been expended in the discovery of the thieves? Illegal activity is illegal no matter what and it infuriates our family that this is being treated in such an offhanded way. My son worked long and hard to put this vehicle together and deserves at least a rudimentary investigation! And if it is true that there are car thefts on a regular basis, why is it not being actively pursued and dealt with?
Arlington
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