Teen borrowing car marks start of crime spree

Multiple arrests followed a melee of events involving a teenager allegedly stealing a car from her mother, then joining companions in a drug-related crime spree.

Last Thursday, 19-year-old Jessica Danielle Treichel told her mother she needed to borrow her 1997 Oldsmobile to go to a job interview. Treichel’s mother called police to report the car stolen when it hadn’t been returned by the next day, said Spokane Valley Police spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan.

Also last Thursday, a man living in the 16100 block of East Valleyway said someone had broken into his home and stolen a Hewlett-Packard laptop. The man said Treichel might have been involved in the crime, Reagan said.

The next day, Treichel’s father received a call from Kevin P. Ehlert, a friend of Jessica’s, who said he was out of town with the Oldsmobile and that he had broken into the Valleyway home, Reagan said.

On Saturday, Treichel returned home with the car and told Spokane Valley Police officers that she, Ehlert and a 17-year-old male friend had broken into the home on Valleyway, and that they pawned stolen property to buy cocaine, which they bought from Rebecca Eileen Mann, 29, Reagan said.

Treichel also told officers she returned to Mann’s house and traded the stolen Hewlett Packard laptop for another $80 in powder cocaine.

While talking to Treichel, officers discovered Ehlert was being treated at the Valley Hospital and Medical Center for a drug overdose. Police spoke with Ehlert, who told them the 17-year-old friend had also done the drugs and was at his parents’ home.

Officers went to the minor’s home to make sure he had not overdosed, and the teen told them that on Thursday, the three friends had gone to an area near Mission Avenue and Flora Road to do the cocaine, Reagan said.

With a warrant, police searched Rebecca Mann’s home at 973 E. Eighth Ave. and found the stolen laptop, as well as methamphetamine and several drug-related items.

Mann was arrested and driven to jail, where an officer found a golf ball-sized baggie of cocaine in a body cavity, Reagan said. She was booked on various stolen property, cocaine and methamphetamine charges.

Treichel was booked into jail on felony counts of burglary, theft, car theft and trafficking of stolen property.

Ehlert was booked into jail on similar charges, as well as an outstanding warrant for a minor in possession of alcohol charge.

The 17-year-old male was booked into Juvenile Detention on charges of residential burglary and theft.