FRANKLIN COUNTY, Wash. — Police investigating a car theft said they found stolen vehicles, tools, artifacts and fossils when they followed the stolen vehicle.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that its deputies assisted the Cornell Police Department after a report of a vehicle theft on Jan. 7. The stolen vehicle was located on SR 260 and refused to stop for officers. In the news release, deputies said “erratic driving” led deputies to believe the driver may have been impaired.
The vehicle eventually stopped and the driver ran into a residence that deputies said had already been under surveillance “due to reports of it being involved with multiple vehicle thefts.”
Deputies surrounded the home and obtained a search warrant. Officers detained five people who were inside the house, but did not release their names.
In the news release, FCSO said deputies found four additional stolen vehicles, several thousand dollars’ worth of stolen tools and construction materials and “a large artifact and fossil collection valued at nearly $100,000.” The collection was inside a trailer that was previously stolen from Kennewick, deputies said.
Detectives said it planned to release more information about the fossils and artifacts in the coming days, the Tri-City Herald reported.
FCSO is working to return to the stolen property to its rightful owners, KNDO reported.
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