Whistling woman leads to car theft arrest

Reports of a woman whistling from a parked car led to the arrest of a suspected car thief early today.

Ronda Marie Tibbet, 40, appeared to be drunk or on drugs and “could only answer nonsensically” when sheriff’s Deputy Daryl Rohde asked her about the Pontiac Grand Am that was stuck in a snow bank at Highway 27 and Elder about 3:15 a.m.

Tibbet was in the driver’s seat, and Rohde said the car’s ignition and door and trunk locks had been punched out.

The car’s Spokane Valley owner told dispatchers she left the car in a church parking lot at 40th and Bowdish and did not know Tibbet and never gave her permission to take the car.

Tibbett, of Spokane, was booked into jail for possession of a stolen motor vehicle.