And, from carwashforum.com, we have forum user Toms PTcarwash, of Landisville, Pennsylvania, who was able to turn a “grass-clip-leaving-bandit” (that name doesn’t roll off the tongue) thanks to his security cameras. Here is his post: Bad pic, but his guy was dropping huge bags of grass clippings in the middle of the bay for a couple weeks. I was able to get his plate on this drop and had the police return his clippings! Back that thing up, but not like that! A driver in Cleveland, Ohio, is wanted after he backed out of a car wash bay and into a vacuum station. According to the WOIO story, the driver then drove off. The car wash’s surveillance footage captured the incident on January 8 and the images have been released to the public. Another evil person is locked up, thanks to a car wash’s security footage, according to KSAT. In San Antonio, Texas, a 19-year-old man was arrested after being accused of kidnapping a woman from a car wash and sexually assaulting her. Francisco Javier Juarez Gonzalez was charged on December 2, 2021, with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and evading arrest. An arrest warrant affidavit stated the 58-yearold victim called the police and reported that she was abducted at a car wash. She said the man displayed a gun and demanded her to get inside her vehicle on the passenger’s side. He then drove her to an unknown location where the assault took place. He then returned to the car wash to get back into his own vehicle. But, his getaway was short-lived as surveillance footage from the car wash captured the suspect’s description and the suspect’s vehicle. The story said that the police caught up with the suspect’s vehicle and attempted to pull it over, but Gonzales along with another man fled on foot. However, both men were eventually apprehended. This is a story in which that lovely trash, containing personal information, that is so often dumped at self serve washes, has actually done some good. Two men have been arrested in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, after a string of at least 15 burglaries, a January 11 WBRZ story said. According to the story, three suspects were caught on a doorbell camera pulling on a car’s door handles and then driving off in a black Hyundai Sonata. When deputies investigated the incident, they learned that three different police departments were working on various burglaries between January 8 and 9 involving the same vehicle. In one incident police responded to Benny’s Car Wash after two men were caught on camera throwing away items that were in new or good condition. Police also found a black duffel bag, backpack and Gucci wallet that contained a checkbook with a name, at the car wash. Then cameras showed they were driving the black Hyundai Sonata. A ha! Go get ‘em, Columbo. Law enforcement agents were able to trace the car back to an AVIS rental car service and eventually caught up with 19-year-old Bobby Duncan and 18-year-old Daniel Buffington, and a female. All three were detained and taken in for questioning. Offering up even more incriminating evidence, officers logged into the female’s cell phone location records and deputies were able to link Duncan and Buffington Deputies to many of the 15 burglaries. I would like to know what the firefighter said after he climbed up the ladder in this next story. “Hey, man…like the jig is up, there’s literally no where to go unless you’re Spiderman.” Or maybe the guy was waiting for a helicopter to drop a rope ladder and whisk him away? Who knows….. A man in Texarkana, Texas, has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a car wash by entering through a hole in the roof, according to a January 24 Texarkana Gazette story. This all took place around 4:15 a.m. at the Baywash Car Wash. Police were called to check the property after an alarm went off. They heard movement up on the roof and discovered 37-yearold Wayde Land. Land refused to come down. “When the suspect refused to come down off the roof after police arrived, the Texarkana Texas Fire Department responded with a ladder truck to get him down,” the story said. “Before his arrest Land had allegedly used a grinder saw to cut a hole in the roof that was just big enough for him to slip through and get inside the building. Once he got in, he allegedly loaded up several tools he found and also broke into one of the vending machines on the wall too,” the story said. It wasn’t such a quick trip for the driver of a truck in New Ulm, Minnesota, according to a January 27 Gazette report. Wait… can we talk about the name “New Ulm,” for a minute. New Ulm…..just doesn’t roll off the tongue. No offense, as I live in a county called Schenectady (Skin-neck-tid-ee) for crying out loud. Anyway, the truck was parked at the Kwik Trip North car wash entrance for 30 to 40 minutes in the early morning hours of January 25, causing police officer Tara Martin to take notice. “Martin reported she noticed the truck due to the -9 degree temperature and -27 degree wind chill, but the truck’s driver’s side window was down and it had not moved for 30 to 40 minutes, despite no vehicles in the car wash,” the story said. Police approached the truck and saw the driver drop a large amount of $100 bills onto the floor from his hand. Police said they also noted an overwhelming odor of masking scents despite the truck window being down for a long time for at least 40 minutes. When questioned, the driver was identified as Robert Olson, who said he believed he was in New Auburn and said he lived in Brownton. However his driver’s license showed he did not live there. After searching his vehicle, police found a vape device with what was recognized as THC concentrate, a baggie that tested positive for methamphetamines, 28.9 grams of marijuana, .5 grams of THC concentrate and 1 gram of cocaine. Olson was arrested and charges include two felony counts of 2nd-degree narcotic drug possession near a park, three counts of felony 3rd-degree drugs, two counts of 4th-degree and 5th-degree drugs and possession of more than 1.4 grams marijuana in a motor vehicle. Olson should count himself lucky that this didn’t take place in Northampton, England, because he could have also received a fine for spending too much time at the car wash (And for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, turn to the Extra Extra section of this magazine and look for the “Man fined for spending too much time washing car” story). 62 • WINTER 2022
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