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closeTuesday, Oct. 13, 2009
Farmer helps police track theft suspects
By Paula Horton, Herald staff writer
An alert Mattawa-area farmer helped police catch three suspects who had stolen items from his truck, authorities said.
Items stolen from a Richland business also were recovered after the suspect's car was searched, said Grant County Undersheriff John Turley.
The incident began around 2:20 p.m. Friday when John Rizzuti, 48, of Mattawa, called 911 after seeing three people in his truck that had been parked at the edge of a field near Road L Southwest and Road 28 Southwest, six miles southeast of Mattawa, Turley said.
Rizzuti said he turned the combine he was driving back toward his pickup and was able to get to his truck and follow a white Pontiac Grand Am with a man and two women inside, he said.
As speeds reached 100 mph at times down gravel roads, Rizzuti gave chase and relayed information to dispatchers, Turley said.
The farmer also saw the thieves throw his property out the windows, he said.
A deputy on duty in the Wahluke School District and two units from Mattawa police responded and eventually were able to stop the Grand Am and arrest the three adults on suspicion of vehicle prowl, Turley said.
After getting a warrant, investigators found several items inside the Grand Am's trunk that were reported stolen from a business in Richland, Turley said.
A GPS tracking unit and a laptop bag with a credit card machine inside were found in the truck and were reported stolen from a vehicle that was parked on a street in Richland, he said.
Small tools, flashlights, files, tin snips and a dent puller -- typically used by vehicle prowlers to pull ignitions, say police -- also were found in the car.
Justin Michael Larkin, 29, and Meri Leigh Popejoy, 47, both of Tacoma, and Colette Amber Rose Lambert, 26, of Eatonville, were booked into the Grant County jail on suspicion of second-degree theft, second-degree vehicle prowl, theft of a firearm and second-degree criminal trespass.
Lambert was driving the Grand Am and Larkin reportedly was the one that took items from Rizzuti's truck.
Popejoy reportedly told deputies that she was unaware of the theft or the chase because she was napping in the back seat, Turley said.
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