Local teens charged with theft spree

By CHERY SABOL

The Daily Inter Lake

Tennis racquets, a pool cue, a computer modem, a shop vacuum, cell phones, a skateboard, flashlights, CDs, a rifle, tools, coins, clothing, and hunting knives.

Those are some of the items recovered after two Columbia Falls boys were arrested this week for allegedly emptying vehicles of their contents around Kalispell.

Sgt. Wade Rademacher of the Kalispell police was on patrol at about 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 31 when he saw someone sitting in a parked vehicle. When he arrived to investigate, the person jumped out of the vehicle and ran. Rademacher noticed another vehicle driving down an alley with its headlights off.

When he stopped it, he found the Subaru Outback was stuffed with stolen items, according to Detective Jim Wardensky.

Eventually, Troy Zastrow, 17, and Douglas Downing, 16, both of Columbia Falls, were arrested for felony theft and possession of dangerous drugs.

The latter charge is because of prescription drugs the boys allegedly stole and they also had marijuana in their possession, Wardensky said. A third boy is being sought.

Wardensky said they allegedly broke into 40 or 50 vehicles parked south of Flathead Valley Community college, in the Mission Village area, and all the way down to Fifth Avenue West North.

Wardensky suspects the boys may have started the theft spree out of town, since they started out together in Columbia Falls that night.

Not all of the property has been reported stolen.

Wardensky said he thinks some people may not yet know they were victimized. Others may have thought it was futile to report the thefts. He recommends reporting thefts to the nearest law-enforcement agency and checking with Kalispell police if there is something missing.

Beyond that, though, he recommends people lock their vehicles and not leave valuables inside them.

It doesnt take much to break a window if someone sees something inside a vehicle theyre determined to steal, Wardensky said.

Insurance policies dont always cover losses from vehicle thefts; residents still must pay deductibles for those that do, Wardensky said.

He complimented Rademacher on good police work in catching the suspected thieves. He urges residents to be their own best protection against becoming victims.

The two minutes time it takes to take stuff out of the car, then into the house is well worth the effort, he said.

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