Diaper caper fails miserably

Ex-wrestler pins would-be thieves

Things went terribly wrong Tuesday night for three teenagers accused of looting vehicles in Evergreen.

The Flathead County Sheriff's Office arrested the boys, ages 14 and 15, on charges of theft from vehicles, trespass to vehicles, and possession of alcohol.

The boys reportedly broke into a Honda Civic on Maple Drive at about 3 a.m.

They accidentally honked the horn, awakening Lance Carlson, a former wrestler. He yelled at the youths, who first ran away, but inexplicably returned.

Carlson's wife, Angela, called the sheriff's office while he gave chase.

"He's a hunter," she said of her husband. "He followed their footprints in the snow."

He chased them to Ash Road, where the boys had allegedly piled into and started a dump truck.

Carlson grabbed two of the boys.

"He put the smallest of the two in a wrestling hold," his wife said.

He had one in a leg lock when the third boy jumped on Carlson's back and yelled at his brother to run.

"I can't. He's got me in a leg lock," the boy answered, according to Carlson.

He held the teens until deputies Dan Linder and Rod Vestre arrived and arrested them. Cpl. Jordan White and Linder chased down the third boy and arrested him on Edgewood Drive.

Patrol Commander Pete Wingert said officers recovered sunglasses, binoculars, a backpack and other property allegedly taken by the boys in 10 vehicle break-ins.

The Carlsons got back their property, too.

The item that led to the boys' demise?

"It was a diaper bag they stole," Angie Carlson said.

She said Wednesday that the youthful bandits were woefully outmatched by her husband.

"He got a scholarship for wrestling when he was younger," she said.

She kept her sense of humor, though, about the bungling burglars.

"What kind of getaway car is a dump truck?" she said.

The names of the boys aren't public because the charges would only be misdemeanors in adult court.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com