Stolen cars recovered in Pierce County; several people arrested in multi-agency sweep

A sweep headed by the Puget Sound Auto Theft Task Force recovered 12 stolen cars and trucks, focusing on prolific car thieves all over the greater Tacoma area.

“Some of the arrests the offenders had already been arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle, a couple of them had firearms, and several of them had warrants that they were out pending on, continuing to victimize people by stealing and driving stolen Vehicles,” Sgt. Darren Moss with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.

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During the operation, some of the suspects tried to flee, endangering officers. A total of six suspects were arrested during the operation.

“We had eight vehicles flee from us, and several of them struck three occupied police vehicles while trying to evade,” Sgt. Moss said.

Taking prolific car thieves off the street was the objective. Making these arrests may also reduce car thefts.

“We capture six people and they’re not on the street for the next month; you could be lowering maybe ten vehicles per person so maybe we have 60 cars that aren’t going to be stolen,” Sgt. Moss said.

It’s no surprise that a couple of the cars were KIAs, but stolen Hondas, Suburus, Volkswagons, Chevy Trucks, and Nissans were also recovered.

Sgt. Moss says catching car thieves is made much more difficult because of state law.

“The biggest problem now is that it is so easy to avoid capture because they simply step on the gas pedal, and patrol officers are not allowed to follow or pursue those vehicles,” Sgt. Moss said.

The Puget Sound urges drivers to take precautions to protect their vehicles.

Park in well-lit areas, lock your car, use anti-theft devices such as an alarm, kill switch, or steering wheel lock steering lock, and hide or remove valuables.

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