SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office recovered and returned two stolen trailers to local business owners and Spokane Complex Fire victims on Thursday.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, someone reported seeing multiple people using bolt cutters to try and open a trailer on East Roundtable Circle around 8 a.m. Thursday.
When deputies arrived, they found two cargo trailers at the home that were missing identification, one of which had been reported stolen back in September to the Spokane Police Department.
The Sheriff’s Office says the trailer’s owner arrived to the property and confirmed it was his trailer, though most of the tools that were inside the trailer were now missing. The victim lives in the Indian Trail neighborhood and is currently still displaced by the Spokane Complex Fires.
Detectives learned the second trailer was reported missing early Thursday morning from the Indian Trail neighborhood. The victim, who owned a drywall company, said he had been working in the area on homes damaged in the fire when the trailer was stolen. The tools inside the trailer were valued at about $15,000.
SCSO says it has developed probable cause to charge 41-year-old Joseph A. Ballad for possessing stolen property. Detectives have identified two other people of interest and the investigation is ongoing.
If you have any information related to these thefts, call Crime Check at 509-456-2233 and reference case 10147595.
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