Local woman steals vehicle with infant, then steals Warden PD vehicle

WARDEN – At around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday a vehicle was reportedly stolen by Moses Lake resident, Rita Gabriella Lozano, 21, on Main Street in Warden. The reporting party said her 2-month-old infant was still in the stolen vehicle, according to a release from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. 

Using traffic cameras, the Warden Police Department saw the vehicle leave Warden north on Road U-Southeast. 

About 15 minutes later and 12 miles away from the initial vehicle location, another caller reported a vehicle that was driving all over the road and in and out of the ditch near Road 3-Northeast and Road S-Northeast outside of rural Moses Lake. The description given by the second reporting party matched the description of the stolen vehicle given by the first reporting party.  

A GCSO deputy who responded to the original call found the stolen vehicle stopped in the middle of Road 3-Northeast between Road S-Northeast and Road T-Northeast. The deputy took Lozano into custody. 

Officers then closed Road 3-Northeast between Road S-Northeast and Road T-Northeast at 10:50 a.m.  

The infant was unharmed and returned to their family. According to authorities, the child's grandmother had been caring for her and had gone into a store to grab an item quickly. She had thought the vehicle was locked and the child safe but found that the vehicle had been taken when she came outside.

Lozano was then handcuffed and placed in the back of a Warden Police car.

However, Lozano then crawled from the back seat to the front seat of the patrol car and drove away with the Warden Police vehicle while still handcuffed, according to GCSO Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman.  

However, Lozano is small-framed and at this time it is assumed the divider between the front seat and the back seat was not properly secured and that's how she was able to access the front of the vehicle.  

The patrol car was then stopped a half mile away when two GCSO deputies used their vehicles to pin the stolen police car on Road 3-Northeast.  

The roadway was reopened around 1:20 p.m.  

According to GCSO, Lozano was transported by ambulance to Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake for a medical evaluation. It is unknown if she was under the influence of a controlled substance. More information will be released as the investigation continues.

One deputy suffered minor injuries during the incident and three law enforcement vehicles sustained damage. According to Foreman, the Warden Police vehicle got the worst of it. One of the GCSO cruisers will have to go in for repairs, the other was able to be driven from the scene.  

Lozano is booked in Grant County Jail for investigation of second-degree kidnapping, reckless endangerment and theft of a motor vehicle.