Moses Lake woman charged for taking vehicle

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake woman did not give police a reason why she took a vehicle from a Moses Lake neighborhood, took off and later returned to the same neighborhood and left the car behind.

Grant County prosecutors charged Jessica Poulos, 33, of Moses Lake, in Grant County Superior Court with second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission.

On Oct. 10 the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a vehicle prowl in progress in which the reporting party had the suspects detained. Police responded to the area and contacted a man who advised his neighbor told him he spotted two people in his son’s vehicle.

The neighbor advised he saw the two subjects walking down Sand Dunes Road toward Sage Road. The reporting party, who is a former police officer, got into his truck with his son and went to look for the two subjects, eventually finding them at the Sand Dunes Road/Sage Road intersection.

The subjects, Poulos and a male, were told to stop and cooperated as the reporting party contacted police. Officers determined loose change, an energy drink, a knife and a jump rope had been stolen out of the vehicle, all of which were found inside of a bag belonging to Poulos. In addition, police located seven checks belonging to a male who lives in the 4000 block of Sage Road, which is two houses down from where Poulos was contacted by the reporting party.

“Jessica observed me holding the checks and stated the checks did not belong to her. I told Jessica I know they did not belong to her because her name was not on them,” wrote an officer. “I asked Jessica where she got them. Jessica stated she did not take the checks and she found the checks inside a wallet. Jessica found the wallet inside the camper trailer they had been staying in out in the sand dunes.”

The owner of the checks advised that they had been placed in his mailbox the previous day. Poulos admitted to entering the unlocked vehicle and discovering the key was still in the ignition. She said she got in the vehicle and took off, eventually driving out to the sand dunes and picking up a male who was in the area.

She said she drove back to where she stole the vehicle, parked and walked away with the male. Poulos did not give police a reason for taking the vehicle or explain why she brought it back to the location where she took it from.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.