A 48-year-old Festus man and a 41-year-old Farmington woman were arrested after Crystal City Police found them in a car that had been reported stolen from outside a home in the 200 block of Hellespont Drive in Olympian Village. The 2007 Kia Rondo was stolen between 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11 and 2:30 p.m. Jan. 12, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The victim, a 63-year-old De Soto woman, told authorities she left the back door to her home unlocked when she went to a friend’s house on Jan. 11. She said she fell asleep at the friend’s house and did not return home until the next afternoon, when she found the car missing. She called two relatives to make sure they hadn’t borrowed the car before contacting the Sheriff’s Office at 3:11 p.m. Jan. 12, the report said.
The woman also told deputies her purse was stolen from her house. The keys and registration to the car were among the items in the stolen purse, according to the report.
At 1 p.m. Jan. 12, about two hours before the woman reported the theft, Crystal City Police found the car and arrested the two suspects. The car, which was valued at $3,800, was returned to the victim. A purse resembling the one reported stolen was found in the Kia, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said.
He said the Sheriff’s Office will seek charges through Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office against the Farmington woman, who was in the driver’s seat when the car was found, for second-degree burglary and first-degree tampering and against the Festus man for second-degree burglary and second-degree tampering, Bissell said.