Police think they have prolific vehicle prowler in custody

Police believe a man they arrested May 25 is responsible for a long list of vehicle prowls that took place last month in Spokane and Spokane Valley.

Brant C. McIver, 36, was arrested in the parking lot of the Lowe’s hardware store on East Broadway Avenue in Spokane Valley, where a sheriff’s deputy found a brand-new weed wacker in the back of McIver’s SUV.

A store manager showed McIver had just purchased the weed wacker using another man’s credit card, according to a search warrant. A deputy later found that credit card, several others belonging to a woman, and a Costco card belonging to another man in McIver’s wallet.

The woman reported seeing a man prowling her vehicle the same day McIver was arrested. After seeing McIver, she identified him as the suspect. A deputy also reported seeing McIver’s 1999 GMC Yukon near the site of reported vehicle prowls in surveillance footage. The SUV is registered as white, but deputies believe McIver recently spray-painted it black to cover his tracks. It was impounded and slated to be searched.

The search warrant lists 11 crimes that deputies are working to tie to McIver. They suspect him of stealing $700 in cash, five wallets, numerous power tools and pieces of construction equipment, a car stereo, a Macbook, prescription medication, personal documents, clothing, two Coach purses and a flat-screen TV from the Motel 6 in Spokane Valley.

Several of the victims were working at a Wal-Mart when their cars were broken into, the search warrant says. Other incidents took place in residential areas.

McIver is being held in the Geiger Corrections Center on six bonds totaling $25,750. Charges listed at the jail include forgery, theft, possession of stolen property, driving with a suspended license and driving under the influence. He’s been a defendant in at least 17 Spokane County Superior Court cases since 1998.