Man who hid in tree house gets 3 years

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man who stole a car and attempted to hide from police in a tree house will be spending over three years in prison.

Antonio Silva, 36, of Moses Lake, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to possession of a stolen vehicle. Silva was initially charged with possession of methamphetamine, but the charge was dismissed in a plea agreement. Judge John Antosz sentenced Silva to a little over three years.

On Sept. 27 the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a vehicle theft from a parking lot in the 800 block of North Stratford Road. A MLPD officer was searching for the car the next morning at an apartment complex in the 4800 block of Airway Drive Northeast and found the vehicle in the apartment’s parking lot, according to court documents.

Silva was working on the car on the passenger side when the officer first spotted the vehicle. The Honda Acura was up on jacks, the wheels were set to be removed and the car’s front and rear license plates had already been removed.

Silva ran from the area when he spotted the officer. Police tracked Silva to the backyard of a nearby residence and found him hiding in a tree house. He was taken into custody and taken to the MLPD station, where he refused to talk about what happened and requested to speak with a lawyer. A search warrant was obtained for Silva’s car and officers recovered the Acura’s license plates, three rims from the Acura, stereo equipment and a sunglasses case containing meth in the car.