Alleged mail thief in trouble... again

MOSES LAKE — Less than a week after she was arrested in connection with a string of mail thefts, a Moses Lake woman is back in jail for allegedly attempting to sell stolen watches on a Facebook site.

Capt. Mike Williams says the MLPD received several tips from Facebook followers that Brittany Strong, 21, of Moses Lake, was attempting to sell two antique gold watches. He said the watches “appeared” to be unique and one of the pictures Strong posted onto a Facebook page showed an engraving with the original owner’s initials on it.

A MLPD officer connected the watches with a May 1 burglary in Moses Lake and the victim in the burglary identified the watches as being hers. A text message conversation was initiated between the officer and Strong and a meeting was set to buy the watches.

Strong arrived at the buy location in a parking lot in the 900 block of North Stratford Road a little after midnight Wednesday morning and was taken into custody with one of the watches in her hand. A passenger in Strong’s vehicle, identified as Timothy Riggins, 28, of Othello, was taken into custody on a Department of Corrections warrant.

Police reportedly found a gun on the passenger seat floorboard of the vehicle. Williams said Strong and Riggins are convicted felons and denied knowing anything about the gun. A search warrant is going to be served on the vehicle to recover the gun and any additional evidence.

Strong was booked into the Grant County Jail for trafficking in stolen property, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of stolen property. Riggins was booked for trafficking in stolen property, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a dangerous weapon, third-degree possession of stolen property and the DOC warrant.

“This case was initiated by concerned, informed members of our community that brought this to our attention. We monitor the buy and sell sites, but obviously we can’t be everywhere at once,” Williams said. “True change in a community requires the police and community members working together to stand up to the 3 percent of people that commit 90 percent of the crimes. This is an outstanding example of that model in action. We would also like to take this opportunity to caution people who use online buy and sell pages.”

Strong was recently arrested and released from jail after she was reportedly found to be in possession of hundreds of pieces of mail stolen from the Peninsula area.