Girl Blamed In Health Club Thefts

Authorities suspect a 14-year-old girl of being a ringleader in numerous car, check and property thefts from Spokane and Coeur d’Alene health clubs in the past month.

The thefts all occurred in the same way, said Spokane County sheriff’s detective Dave Martin. After the thieves asked to use the bathroom, car keys were stolen from coats hanging on racks and belongings were taken from unlocked lockers.

The 14-year-old has confessed to five of the car thefts and numerous thefts of belongings, Martin said. Authorities said they’ll charge her with multiple felonies.

“She’s the one who figured out how to do this,” Martin said. “She’s a very simple 14-year-old crack addict.”

Martin said the girl has taught a number of other people how to commit the crimes.

The thefts wouldn’t have happened if people would have locked their possessions in lockers at health clubs, said sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Ethridge. “It’s been a nightmare,” he said.

The girl was booked into the Juvenile Detention Center last week but was released within four hours, Martin said. That night, a car was stolen from a Sta-Fit Racquet and Athletic Club.

“Evening comes, and surprise, surprise, we get another car stolen,” Martin said. Although the girl has not been charged with that theft, “It’s her M.O. all the way,” he said.

Purses and other valuables left in cars were stolen, checks were forged and credit cards were run to their limits. Authorities believe the girl delivered cars and property to several other suspects.

“The checks are being spread out among the drug community,” Martin said. “So many people are tied to this case, we’ll never be able to charge them all.”

At least seven people, including the girl, have been arrested by city and county law enforcement in connection with the thefts.

Two of those arrests were made last Thursday night after a five-hour standoff outside a South Hill apartment building.

David Delfs, 39, and John Calvert, 35, were charged with possession of stolen property. Two stolen cars were found in the parking lot near E45 Eighth.

Delfs and Calvert also were indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on federal firearms charges.

One car was recovered near the home of Robert Adams, 24, an associate of Delfs and Calvert, who also was indicted Tuesday on two counts of possessing pipe bombs.

The girl is accused of stealing cars from Sta-Fit clubs in north and south Spokane and in the Spokane Valley, and from North Park Racquet and Athletic Club on the North Side, Martin said.

She also is suspected of stealing property from lockers at the Sta-Fit clubs, North Park and the Central Park Racquet and Athletic Club.

Martin said the girl told him she’d stolen property from all the health clubs more times than she could count. She never hit the downtown Sta-Fit because she did not know where it was, Martin said.

The 14-year-old lives mostly on the streets, Martin said. Several of her associates live on Broadway near the Spokane County Courthouse.

“That’s where a number of the stolen cars were recovered,” said Sgt. Ethridge. “Everything’s piecing together now.”

Richard D. Cook, 36, and Sean M. Maney, 31, were arrested Monday in a 1994 Ford Aspire stolen from a StaFit club, said Spokane police Detective Brian Schwarz.

The men were pulled over for speeding, Schwarz said, and the license plate number registered as stolen.

Both men were charged with possession of a controlled substance when police found drugs in the car. Maney also was charged with possession of stolen property because he was driving the car, Schwarz said.

On the evening of Dec. 28, Anthony M. Strandy, 34, was arrested and charged with forgery, said city Sgt. Larry Evans. Strandy is accused of trying to cash a check stolen from a Sta-Fit club.

“The clerk caught it before he filled in the amount,” Evans said. Apparently, Strandy made a mistake filling out a check, and the clerk called authorities when Strandy tried to write a second check.

“We’re not talking about Einstein,” Evans said.

At least one car was stolen from the Coeur d’Alene Sta-Fit, Martin said, but that theft has not been tied to the 14-year-old.