SAFFORD – Authorities received a complaint last Thursday of a vehicle that had been parked in an alley near a business on Highway 70. The reporting party did not know who the vehicle belonged to and thought that it might be abandoned. An officer was dispatched to the area but the vehicle was gone by the time he arrived. He was given the license plate number of the vehicle, which was described as an older grey Chevy Impala with blue tape on the front windshield. The officer ran a check of the license plate and found out that the car had been stolen out of Glendale.
An officer located the car at Walmart but was unable to catch up to it due to traffic conditions. Another officer located the car on 7th Avenue. It appeared to be heading back to the area where it was reported as abandoned. Two officers stopped the car at the intersection Gila Avenue and Main Street. The female driver was order out of the car and secured in a patrol vehicle.
The driver’s 5-year-old son was also found in the vehicle riding in the back seat. The driver initially told police that her cousin let her borrow the car and she did not know it was stolen. It was later discovered that the woman was living several blocks away from where she was parking the car. The woman said that her cousin was staying with her and would probably be at the residence. The officers drove to the residence and the woman gave permission for them to enter, but they did not find the woman’s cousin there.
The woman told authorities that she had needed a ride to Peridot to get her boyfriend’s work things. A relative apparently sent the cousin with the car to help her. The woman said that her cousin does drugs and is involved in criminal activity. The cousin said that the car belonged to a friend, but the woman admitted that she believed the vehicle was stolen but didn’t know for sure.
During the officer’s contact with the woman, it was discovered that she had a warrant for her arrest for shoplifting. She was booked into the Graham County Jail on the warrant.
