'Joyriding' lands 4 suspects in jail
Three teenagers and a man in his 20s are being held on felony charges for allegedly stealing three pickups out of the Lincoln County Landfill in Libby late Tuesday night and leading local law enforcement on multiple chases that ended with two crashes.
Four Libby residents, ages 17, 18, 19 and 23, allegedly disassembled two gates to gain access to vehicles belonging to Environmental Restoration on Tuesday to take what law enforcement described as a “joyride.”
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office wouldn’t release the suspects’ names Wednesday until their scheduled initial appearance on Thursday.
As Lincoln County Sheriff Deputy Jason Place drove west on Highway 37 outside Libby at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, he noticed four vehicles – a car, two pickups and a pickup with a dump box – speeding in the opposite direction.
“By the time I got turned around,” Place said, “they were already hitting speeds of 80 mph.”
The vehicles reportedly got up to 90 mph on Highway 37 before turning south onto Fisher River Road. Place lost them, but the vehicles – minus the pickup with the dump box, which was later found crashed at Buck Creek – resurfaced about an hour later coming off Haul Road onto Fifth Street Extension, Place said.
Place apprehended the 17- and 18-year-olds that were in the car.
“The passenger car did stop for me that time, but the two pickups ended up running on us,” Place said.
One pickup allegedly driven by the 19-year-old suspect was crashed and ditched, Place said, on Granite Lake Road. The other was recovered without a driver further down on Cherry Creek Road. Police believe the 23-year-old suspect was the driver.
The 23-year-old suspect turned himself in on Wednesday, Place said.
“The father brought him down,” Place said. “I made a phone call to the father to let him know that if he did show up at the home that he needed to turn himself in.”
About a half–hour later the final suspect – the 19-year-old man – followed suit.
None of the suspects were injured and the vehicles did not suffer significant damage, Place said. The two who fled on foot are suspected to have taken property from the vehicles, and five guns belonging to the suspects were found.
Place said the individuals were all sober.
“They were simply joyriding,” Place said to describe their motive. “… All four of the individuals were not under the influence, which is surprising.”
They are believed to have taken the landfill gate off the hinges and somehow disassembled a second gate to enter the Environmental Protection Agency’s property within the landfill. The suspects allegedly found the keys inside the ER vehicles, Place said, and took off, but not without reattaching the landfill gate first.
Ray Miller, landfill manager, said he didn’t know anyone had been on the property until law enforcement contacted him Wednesday.
“We wouldn’t have known,” Miller said. “Nothing was missing or disturbed.”
The men are being charged with felony theft of a motor vehicle, felony criminal mischief, two counts of trespassing and traffic violations. Two of the men will also be charged with misdemeanor theft, Place said.