Woman headed to prison for pulling gun on test drive

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake woman will be spending over 2 1/2 years in prison for pulling a gun on a car salesman during a test drive.

Lisa Miller, 50, of Moses Lake, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to first-degree robbery-deadly weapon/appeared to be deadly weapon. Following a joint recommendation between Chief Deputy Prosecutor Alan White and defense attorney Michael Morgan, Judge John Knodell sentenced Miller to 31 months in prison.

In early May, Miller arrived at the LA Auto Rack on South Pioneer Way in Moses Lake and asked to go on a test drive in a 2012 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. Miller told the car salesman she wanted him to drive the car and during the test drive asked him to pull up next to a Dodge Charger in a business parking lot on East Wheeler Road.

Miller said she needed to grab something out of the Charger and opened a door on the car, pulled out a gun, removed the gun from its holster, racked the weapon and aimed it in the salesman’s direction. The victim told police he advised Miller she could have the car, but he said he ended up driving out of the parking lot and parked by a nearby store.

The man was able to escape the vehicle and get away, which is when Miller got behind the wheel of the Spyder. She called MACC Dispatch and told the dispatcher her name was Lisa Miller. She claimed, “her husband set her up and that she had a weapon in the car.” Miller was later found by police in the parking lot of Carquest Auto Parts on East Third Avenue and taken into custody.

“From open view, I could see a black semi-automatic handgun tucked between the center console and the front passenger seat (of the Spyder). I could also see a holster on the front passenger seat floorboards,” wrote a Moses Lake Police Department officer.

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