Law enforcement investigating stolen vehicle spree

WALLACE — A series of separate reports on Sunday to the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office are now being treated as linked in an effort to locate a vehicle thief.

SCSO Captain Jeremy Groves reports that on Sept. at approximately 1:30 a.m., SCSO dispatch received a call referencing an overdue subject who had walked away from his camping location on the Coeur d’Alene River and had not returned after a lengthy period of time.

It is believed that this individual was a male subject who was left in the area by a larger group of friends, all of which had possibly been under the influence of alcohol and/or other substances.

While deputies were investigating this overdue person incident, dispatch then received a report of a stolen vehicle near the area they were at. Responding deputies soon found that a suspect had crashed the stolen vehicle off of the roadway and had left the area on foot (possibly fleeing across the river itself). Shortly after all these events, deputies were then again notified of a second stolen vehicle from the Coeur d’Alene River area.

The owner of the second vehicle had woken up and found that his vehicle was missing, so he called 911. After putting out an alert to all law enforcement, SCSO received notification from the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office advising that they had located the second stolen vehicle in their jurisdiction and it was completely engulfed by fire.

Captain Groves states that all of these incidents are considered connected and they believe that they know the suspect’s identity. No information on his identity is being released at this time.

All incidents are still currently being investigated and further information will be released at a later time.