Man who hid from police in tree house facing charges

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man who attempted to hide from police in a tree house is facing stolen vehicle and drug charges in Grant County Superior Court.

Grant County prosecutors charged Antonio Silva III, 36, of Moses Lake, with possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of methamphetamine.

Silva’s charges stem from an incident on Sept. 27, when the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a vehicle theft from a parking lot in the 800 block of North Stratford Road. Early the next morning a MLPD officer was searching for the stolen vehicle, a Honda Acura, in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 4800 block of Airway Drive Northeast when he reportedly spotted the vehicle in the parking lot, according to court documents.

When the officer first spotted the car both doors were open and a male, Silva, was working on the car on the passenger side. The Acura was reportedly up on jacks, the wheels were set to be removed and the vehicle’s front and rear license plates had already been taken off.

Silva reportedly fled the scene on foot when he saw the officer and went out of the officer’s sight as he ran down a hill. Officers tracked Silva to the backyard of a residence in the area and reportedly found him hiding in a tree house. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to the MLPD station, where he refused to speak about the incident and requested to speak with a lawyer.

Police obtained a search warrant for Silva’s car and recovered the Acura’s license plates, three rims from the Acura, stereo equipment and a sunglasses case containing meth in the vehicle.