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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sirens & Gavels

Roommates arrested in thefts, again

It didn’t take long for police to identify two suspects in two recent high school locker rooms thefts.

A couple of surveillance photos of the culprits did the trick.

“We got flooded with tips, not only from law enforcement officers…but just from everywhere that it was Jenalee Hall and Miranda Watson,” said Sgt. John Nowels of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Establishing probable cause to arrest them for the burglaries at East Valley and West Valley high school locker rooms Oct. 2 took a bit more time, but the women’s alleged criminal tendencies apparently helped.

They were picked up Friday accused of trying to steal movies and a customer’s purse at Costco, 3601 E. Sprague Ave.

Arresting officers knew they were suspects in the locker room burglaries in which the culprits escaped in a large white van.

Watson, 25, (right, allegedly) and Hall, 22, (left, allegedly) were in a white van Friday afternoon. Inside, detectives found property they believe ties the two to the burglaries as well as other crimes like vehicles prowlings.

“We’re probably going to end up with multiple felony charges for both of them,” Nowels said.

Also arrested in the case was Watson's fiancé, Chad Hoyt, 26.

Watson and Hall, Hall, who is related to notorious Spokane criminal Eddie Ray Hall, were described as roommates when they were arrested in May for a string of vehicle prowlings and theft incidents at Spokane Valley and South Hill fitness clubs.

Both women were out on bail when they were arrested in the Costco parking lot last week, according to court records.

Hall posted $5,000 bond on Monday. Watson is being held in jail as a fugitive from Kootenai County, where she’s charged with forgery, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, burglary and attempted possession of a controlled substance, according to court papers.

She also faces prescription forgery charges in Spokane County after employees at the Safeway at 2590 E. 29th said she’d filled three OxyContin prescription in May that they later learned had been forged, according to a probable cause affidavit.

After her arrest Friday, detectives say Watson admitted to a plan to steal movies from Costco and said she and her friends had sat in the store’s parking lot for the past hour “ingesting narcotics,” according to a warrant used to search their van.

Hall’s young son was in the van when the three were arrested, according to the warrant.

Read a previous post here.



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