Police looking for man who stole pick-up truck
Suspect in West Memphis case may be same as Marion thief
By JOHN RECH
news@theeveningtimes.com
West Memphis and Marion police may be searching for the same man after investigators compared home surveillance photos and video from subdivisions in each city along Mound City Road. West Memphis Police asked for help identifying the suspect and offered
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a Crimes Stoppers reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the unidenti_ed subject.
“It looks like the same man to me,” said West Memphis Assistant Police Chief Robert Langston. “I saw the Marion pictures on my Neighborhood App on Sunday.”
The thief struck on May 6 in the Grove subdivision in West Memphis. He found a white 2020 Ford F-250 unlocked and drove the pickup away. Police recovered the vehicle undamaged.
“The vehicle was unlocked and the key inside,” said Langston. “Of_cers located the vehicle abandoned at 4061 East Broadway. There was no damage and we were able to collect _nger prints. Two _re arms were stolen out of the vehicle.”
A man out_tted in apparently the same gear tried pulling door latches in the St. John’s subdivision on Mother’s Day morning before sunrise. The suspect pulled up to the house in a Honda CRV. The Grove and St. John’s Landing were set along Mound City Road.
In both incidents the subject yanked on the handles of vehicles in the driveway. One resulted in a theft and one did not. Langston said there was a lesson to be learned. The chief pointed to the 9:00 P.M. Routine promoted by the department’s PACT (#Policeand CommunityTogether).
“We share the 9:00 p.m. Routine on Facebook simply as a reminder to do the same thing I do every night,” said Langston. “I walk out before I go to bed at night and check all the doors on my vehicles in the driveway to make sure they are locked. Make sure the key are out. Make sure any valuables are not left in the vehicles, like a purse or a tablet. Take any weapons in your vehicle out. Then lock the house doors and turn on the exterior lighting. Just do that every night.”
The chief said vehicle windows being broken is much more rare than theft from an unlocked vehicle.
“We’ve had some thefts where windows get broken, but 90 percent of the time when there is theft from vehicles in a neighborhood its because the doors were unlocked,” said Langston. “They walk up and down the street and pull on door. We’ve put out videos of this activity before. If all the doors are locked they just keep walking down the street pulling on doors.”
West Memphis Police urged anyone with information on the suspect to contact the Criminal Investigation Division at (870) 732-7525 or the Marion Police Department (870)739-2101, or Crittenden County Crime Stoppers at (870) 732-4444. All calls will be kept con_dential.
West Memphis Police recovered this 2020 Ford pick-up after it was stolen from the Grove subdivision May 6. The thief stole firearms out of the unlocked vehicle, drove away and abandoned it on East Broadway. Police asked the public for help identifying the suspect.
Photo courtesy West Memphis Police
