Because he is more eloquent and a much better writer, I would rather have Todd tell the story. He's pretty busy so if does not find the time to tell the story I'll come back and finish the post...let's just say we struck a small blow for the fishermen!

Ike

Come on Todd(s). Give up the story! Please tell us you dismembered a tweaker and fed the remains to a grizzly bear. Not like they will be missed....

He's probably typing as we speak. Should be done telling the story by sometime tomorrow.

I hope you saved some for Sophie

Not terribly exciting, and no physical violence, but a quick acceleration of cop work that might turn a relatively small crime into a larger victory for society...

Ike and I were doing a little fishing near Index, and parked my van at a trail head to get down to the river. A POS blue Eagle Talon (with no door handles...your guess is as good as mine) was parked there, with two fairly sketchy characters sitting on the ground near it.

Sketchy characters were a young woman and "gentleman" of around 35 or so.

They asked if we could fix their car, or if we had a cell phone that they could use to call for help...they had been there all morning, and their car wouldn't start or run...he had the hood up, but was staring at the motor like it was a spaceship.

I told 'em that the cell phone gets no service there, good luck, and we're going fishing. My old phone didn't get service there.

We fished for a couple of hours, and returned from the other direction...as we approached my van, there was a white Mazda MPV parked behind the Talon...and the young woman was pouring gas from a gas can into the Mazda's tank.

There were also two other people in the van, and an older woman standing outside the van...

The young girl asked us if we'd help them push the Talon out to the road, about 30 feet or so...and then I noticed that the fuel door on my van was open, my gas cap was laying on the ground next to the van...and a white hose and a siphon pump were also laying there.

Walking over towards the group and asking her who the f*&K she thinks she is asking for my help after stealing my gas...she stared at me like I was speaking Japanese or something.

Seein' how there were at least five of them and only two of us, I decided the best course of action would be to see if my cell phone worked...and, surprisingly, it did...albeit weakly.

911 Dispatch had descriptions of all the characters I could see, both the cars, and both the tag numbers, within about a minute...when they noticed I was looking at all of them and describing them and their cars to Dispatch, they also seemed a little surprised that I was getting cell service...

The younger girl walked off into the bushes, returning about 30 seconds later, and everyone piled into the van, leaving the Talon there.

Deputy Odenberg showed up about five minutes later, and said that he didn't see the MPV on the road coming in, so he suspected they were nearby.

He asked for descriptions, and I started out with "They looked like f*&king tweakers to me, which probably doesn't narrow it down around here."

We talked about a statement, and found out I was a lawyer, and asked what I thought about the Talon being parked in the power lines right of way...to which I agreed with him that it was likely a public safety hazard...what if Puget Power had to come out to do emergency repairs?

He agreed and called for a tow truck...the tow truck drivers recognized the car and the descriptions of the tweakers...

A 21 year old girl, Jessica, to whom the Talon is registered, and her 35 year old boyfriend, Josh Brown, Chief Tweaker of this particular crowd of dirtbags.

Jessica is 21, reddish brown hair...Josh is 35, about average size, blondish crew cut, lots of tatoos.

Josh is well-known as a local tweaker and dip$hit, and also for stealing gasoline.

The truck drivers also knew where he'd be...a suspected crack house near River Bend on the Skykomish.

After a prolonged job of getting the Talon on the tow truck (they had to break in, and couldn't use a slim jim as there were no door handles), off they went with the car in tow. Ike and I saw them a while later along the highway where skid marks followed the car off the side of the road...it was an all wheel drive, and apparently the transmission siezed up after towing it a mile or so...what a damn shame.

Deputy Odenberg called me about an hour later, or so, and said that another deputy at the station house was on his way out to the very same house that he was on his way to...because it is a crackhouse, and they received a complaint. Interestingly enough, the house is owned by the older woman who was driving the MPV.

The Deputy told me that Jessica had been charged with 3rd Degree Theft, but couldn't tell me about busting the crack house, or the rest of the story...at least not yet. He's going to give me a call back near the end of the month after a few more things have been ironed out.

So...I lost about 8 gallons of gas...one tweaker's got another bust to add to her record, and the other tweakers and the owner of a crack/cook house are likely being busted, too. The neighbors around this house have been complaining about the tweakers hanging out there, but the cops have been unable to get at 'em...now they can.

The tweaker mobile is pretty much torched and sitting in impound in Sultan.

I guess that's about it for now...I have some pics of the Talon that I'll put up when I get around to it so you can all keep your eyes out for it if you're out fishing that way...and keep an eye out for that Josh character if he's still at large...he just got out of jail last week, and Jessica's Talon just got out of impound a few days ago, too...Josh's Bronco is still in impound from his last arrest.

Fish on...

Todd

Had the same thing happen to me last year in that same general area. A guy waves me down in the road so I stop and asked whats up, he's got his hood up and asked if I had any tools to fix his car. Two guys and a lady. Looked like they were up to no good, so I got the hell outa there. Probably the same tweakers you guys ran into. Glad you reached the authorities and something is being done. There were two ladies killed around Verlot, hiking not too long ago. To bad a guy has to worry about his rig and all this crap when out fishing

Sounds like its time to add another variety of lead to my old wornout vest.

Way to go you guys. Took some kahunas to call the cops right in their face. Keep us posted and a picture would be way cool. Thanks lots. Did you just go fishing or did you do some catching?

Good job guy's, if we can just keep handling these situations like this (vs. self enforcement) we may get somewhere with out having to attend any funerals for each other. I'm just friggen' speachless about the whole ordeal, our society should just go back to public beatings for crap like this. seems as though they (tweakers) spend more time being taken care of by our wonderfull system than being held accountable for their actions. a couple of days of jail time just gives them a chance to dry out and live for free, while the public (those that are really affected by the activities of the hopeless dope-heads) gets little to no relief from the wake of the aftermath.

Nice job!! And some people wonder why I pack what I do when I'm fishing.

They're lucky it wasn't me.

If it was there'd be a group of missing crackheads.

Twenty years from now they'd be trying to use dental records on the John & Jane Does found by timber surveyors after a heavy rain but unable to because of Tweeker dental hygiene.

The only marks would be the Colt 45 holes in the heads. I don't have a CWP just for show and tell.

That tweeker ***** wont ever see that car again. Not that she cares. A $600 impound tab isn't worth it when you have a $250 car. $600 buys alot in the underworld.

Good job. Would have been different if it were me, but you still did well. Dealing with $hitbags is nothing new. Tampering with my truck would have spun me out. Somebody would be hurtin' right now. If they wanted to take it up a notch I can deal with that too.

Hey Todd, good Job,It sounds like locking gas caps are a requirement in these parts to start with. The approach you employed is excellent. Cell phones are great tools. In situations like that all they need is the impression you have coverage and you are calling the cops and they will split. My cell has a camera on it, wouldent it be nice to click some photos or the individuals and the cars.It would be kinda cool to do our own little Washington most wanted.

Good job guys, any fish?

I wish we could Parker....unfortunately I have trouble fighting my way out of a wet paper bag, and Todd, as you may know, is much more likely to handle a situation with his brain and his mouth than with violence.

Actually One Way, they aren't. After they find the locking gas cap they just bend down with a sharp object and puncture your tank....draining ALL the gas from your rig with no way to refill it. I'd rather have the peckers just siphon it.

The only thing I might add to the tale is the incredible story that Josh spun to the cops when confronted with stealing our gas: "We didn't steal their gas." The Deputy then asked: "Well, were you there the whole time?" (Our vehicles were parked 20 feet away) "Yep", Josh answers. "Well, did you happen to see anybody else stealing their gas?" "Nope". He then offered (if the cop would give him a ride) to come back up and pay us for the gas that they apparently did not steal.

Ike

Good level-headed job to you guys.

Do locking gas caps really help? I figure they will only provoke other vandalism to the rig. Gas is cheap. Repairs are expensive. Anyone with experience on these gas caps?

-t

Right on!

I've had my gas stolen twice at Forks area launches. Now I only leave minimal gas in my truck when I'm out fishing.

you were parked on the mt. index rd? i used to live up there. there are around 200+ residences up there and only about 3 are tweaker pads. one residence is pretty infamous- lots of blue tarps and OSB. many of my friends have been stolen from up on that road, mostly from private property. If you have semi-auto weapon(s), fire off a bunch of rounds in a row at the ground near your rig, then go fishing. Any rig left on this road is obvoiusly a target since its occupants are obviously from the city and probably own more than doorhandles, blue tarps, and OSB. Good luck...

I love tweaker bust stories. Good job Todd, you did EXACTLY what we want people to do.

Good job.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Here's a few pics of the experience...

First, my fuel door, gas cap, hose, and siphon left by the tweakers:



Second and third...pics of the TweakerMobile being towed:





Take notice of the car, and the license plate...its transmission is shot, and it's in impound, and won't likely be retrieved or fixed for a while, but rest assured it will be out there again driving tweakers around to steal our stuff and get their fix.

Fish on...

Todd