EVERETT, Wash. — A North Sound man arrested in a stolen car says officers should look for the other 99 cars he took.
When officers arrested Caleb Bradley in a stolen Honda, they already suspected the 20-year-old of stealing dozens of cars across Snohomish county.
"We were starting to track him down, and connect him to cases but once he started speaking, it was even more than what we thought," said Eric Fagan with the Snohomish Auto Theft Task Force.
Officers say Bradley found keys or used a shaved key to steal 100 cars since August - about five a week.
Most were older model Hondas and Toyotas.
"That's crazy; 100 cars," said Chase Henderson.
Henderson lives next to Bradley’s Granite Falls home and says cars disappear all the time.
"We've had a couple dumped in the cul-de-sac here," Henderson said.
Next door, Alexia Hendricks wonders if Bradley knows where her mom’s Honda is. The car was stolen out of the driveway Wednesday morning.
“If he could do it, then his friends could," Hendricks said.
Snohomish County sheriff's detectives say Bradley dumped cars quickly before the owner realized it was gone or had time to file a report.
In court papers, Bradley admits he drove a stolen Camry from Lynnwood to a Fred Meyer in Monroe. He abandoned it when he found a Honda with a key in it. He drove the Honda to Granite Falls where he left it and stole the license plates off another car. He put the license plates on another stolen car and drove to the other side of town - where he dumped it.
"Once they master the skill, it's pretty easy for them. It takes just a matter of seconds," said Fagan, a member of the auto theft task force.
Detectives recovered twelve stolen cars. Three were recovered based on information from Bradley.
KIRO
