Man arrested for vehicle prowling, damaging police cars

MOSES LAKE — A suspected vehicle prowler was arrested in Moses Lake Wednesday night for allegedly damaging two police cars after he was found to have stolen items.

About 8:30 p.m. the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a person possibly prowling vehicles in the parking lot at the Paul Lauzier Memorial Athletic Park on Central Drive. Several MLPD officers were close by and responded to the area quickly, reportedly locating the suspect, Kasey Hardy, 35, of Moses Lake, in the parking lot carrying backpacks on a bicycle, according to the MLPD on Thursday.

Hardy allegedly rode his bike through a baseball field and jumped a nearby fence. Hardy’s bike and several backpacks were recovered by police in the backyard of a residence on West Village Avenue. As Hardy was allegedly seen walking away, a person reported someone had stolen numerous items out of his vehicle in the Lauzier parking lot.

Several items found in the backpack matched the name of the victim and Hardy was detained. He was reportedly found to be in possession of the victim’s phone, as well as methamphetamine. A witness took pictures of Hardy as he was committing the crimes.

“After being placed in the rear of a patrol vehicle in handcuffs, Hardy was able to move his hands to the front of his body, reach through a mesh partition and set off a fire extinguisher in the rear of the patrol vehicle, requiring it to be removed from service,” stated the MLPD in a news release.

All of the stolen items were recovered and returned to the victim. As he was en-route to the Grant County Jail, Hardy allegedly move his hands to the front of his body again and proceeded to rip a microphone for an in-car system out of a patrol vehicle.

“This case was a grant example of cooperation between citizens reporting crimes and the Moses Lake Police Department responding. The witnesses were instrumental in getting property back for a victim and gathering evidence,” the MLPD said.

Hardy was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary, second-degree vehicle prowl, five counts of second-degree theft, possession of meth, first-degree malicious mischief and second-degree malicious mischief.