Arnold Police are trying to find a man who allegedly stole three vehicles, crashing two of them and abandoning the other one in Imperial. The incidents happened on April 24 and April 25, Capt. Rich Shular said.
The alleged one-man crime spree began at about 9:15 p.m. April 24 at Schnucks, 1253 Water Tower Place, in Arnold, where the suspect reportedly went into an office at the grocery store and stole an employee’s purse and car keys, the report said.
Surveillance footage from the store allegedly shows the man finding the employee’s 2018 Nissan Altima in the parking lot and loading items believed to have been stolen from a 2004 Ford F-250 into the car. He then reportedly abandoned the pickup and drove away in the car, according to the report.
However, the man did not get far because he drove over a curb and the car got stuck outside the Jack in the Box restaurant in the same shopping plaza off Jeffco Boulevard. The man left the car, which had electronic equipment in it, the report said.
As of May 7, Arnold Police had not been able to contact the owner of the pickup left in the grocery store parking lot. However, the owner of the Nissan, a 40-year-old New Douglas, Ill., woman, was able to drive the car away from the scene, Shular said.
At 1 a.m. the next day, the suspect allegedly entered a home in the 1200 block of Windcrest Circle through an open garage and an unlocked door that led to the kitchen. A 64-year-old Arnold woman who lives there was home and heard a noise. She said she first checked her front door and then went into the kitchen, where she saw the man inside her house, the report said.
When the woman spotted the man, he reportedly ran back into the garage, where he found keys to a 2018 Nissan Frontier in the garage and allegedly left in the pickup, the report said.
Later that morning officers spotted the pickup on Arnold Tenbrook Road and attempted to stop the man. He sped away, but he failed to negotiate a 90-degree turn and ran off the road and then the pickup went airborne, down a hill, into the Session Fixture Company’s warehouse property and eventually struck a tree and stopped. It had to be towed from the scene, according to the report.
The man got out of the pickup and ran to the nearby LMC Industries, 100 Manufacturers Drive. He entered that businesses at about 4 a.m., claiming he was lost. His arm was bleeding, and while an employee went to call for help, the suspect allegedly stole a set of keys to a 2015 Hyundai Accent and drove away, the report said.
Officers located the Hyundai on Hwy. 141 at Old Lemay Ferry Road and started chasing it but ended the pursuit when the man drove into the southbound lanes while traveling north on the highway. The man then returned to the correct lane, and he was last seen leaving Arnold on Hwy. 21, according to the report.
Later, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office located the Hyundai through its GPS system. The car had been abandoned in the 4700 block of Rhonda Sue Drive in Imperial. It was still operating and was returned to its owner, a 43-year-old St. Louis woman, the report said.
Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call Arnold Police at 636-296-3204.