Two Tacoma residents have been arrested for allegedly stealing a $811 purse from a Centralia outlet store then leading police on a 100 mph pursuit into Thurston County on Monday.
A male suspect reportedly stole the purse from the outlet store in the 1300 block of Lum Road and got into the passenger seat of a black Ford Fusion with no license plate at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 16, according to Centralia Police Department records and court documents.
“Officers have recently had thefts from the same business with the same vehicle description,” the Centralia Police Department stated in a news release.
According to charging documents, police have reports of a male suspect stealing a $389 purse from the same outlet on Aug. 29 and stealing a $486 purse from the outlet on Sept. 1.
“In that incident, a similar looking male, wearing the same shoes and a similar shirt from the August theft, walked into the store and did essentially the same thing, but with a different purse,” charging documents state of the Sept. 1 theft.
The suspect in the Sept. 16 theft looked similar to the suspect in the previous two thefts and was reportedly “wearing a similar shirt and still had on the same distinctive shoes from the earlier thefts,” according to court document.s
An officer with the Centralia Police Department reportedly saw the vehicle at a red light on Harrison Avenue and attempted a traffic stop as the vehicle drove onto Interstate 5. The officer reportedly “followed the vehicle at approximately 70 mph for quite a distance before the vehicle began to accelerate to over 100 mph,” according to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court.
While traveling at “an excessive speed,” the Ford reportedly passed other vehicles that had slowed due to the officer’s activated lights and siren, drove on the shoulder, cut off vehicles, ran at least one stop sign and drove on the wrong side of the wrong side of the road, according to charging documents.
With help from deputies with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, the officer was able to use a PIT maneuver to stop the Ford near the area of Exit 95, according to Centralia Police Department records and court documents.
The vehicle’s two occupants, driver Ronald Prince, 34, and passenger Clifford Gibbs, 33, were arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 5:45 p.m. on Sept. 16, according to court documents and jail records.
Gibbs was charged Sept. 17 with one count each of second-degree theft and second-degree organized retail theft. Prince was charged the same day with one count each of second-degree theft and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle.
Bail for each suspect is set at $25,000.
Arraignment hearings are scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 26.
