6 suspects arrested, 7 stolen cars recovered in Fife auto theft operation

FIFE, Wash. - The Puget Sound Auto Theft Task Force and Fife Police arrested six suspects and recovered seven stolen vehicles in an operation tracking them down to Fife.

Authorities say that during the operation, some suspects sped away in two cars. It is unknown if those cars were reported stolen.

In all, officers recovered a BMW X7, a Ford Escape, a Honda Odyssey, two Honda CRVs and two Ford F-250s. They also arrested a 44-year-old man, 40-year-old man, 35-year-old man, 36-year-old woman and 21-year-old woman.

In one instance, officers located a Toyota Sequoia with an expired registration. They pulled over the driver and found the car was not stolen, but had stolen "2024" tabs on the license plate. The driver was a convicted felon on probation, and had a stolen gun on him. Detectives arrested him and search his car, where they found 96 grams of fentanyl, 19 grams of heroin, 58 grams of meth and other drug paraphernalia.

Another man was arrested for domestic violence assault, which authorities included in the Fife operation.

"Auto thefts are a regional issue," said Sgt. Jeff Carroll with the Puget Sound Auto Theft Task Force. "We have detectives from multiple agencies within King and Pierce Counties working together to aggressively investigate prolific thieves and get people their stolen vehicles back."