Chasing stolen bait car wasn't part of plan

A 23-year-old Yakima man accused of stealing a car from the cops remains at the Yakima County jail on $50,000 bail.

And it turns that the capture of suspect Shaun Vanarendonk would have happened more quickly, but for a communications glitch between sheriff's dispatchers and the company responsible for activating the car's kill switch.

Vanarendonk was charged Wednesday with auto theft and second-degree theft. The latter charge involves items taken from the "bait car" that had been placed inside by deputies before they parked the car at the Valley Mall in Union Gap on Friday morning.

Because deputies are hoping to use those "little goodies" again to attract more criminals during the holiday season, Sgt. Randy Briscoe of the sheriff's Crime Reduction Unit did not want to release exactly what was in the car, or any details about what the car looks like.

The Crime Reduction Unit has been using the bait car since earlier this year to crack down on auto theft, but Friday's incident was the first time that there had been a problem with stopping the suspect.

Deputies say the car theft began at 7:30 a.m. Friday when Vanarendonk spotted the keys in the car. He handed the items to a woman who was in another vehicle with him, and took off.

Deputies didn't chase the bait car because they were able to follow it via a tracking system. But Vanarendonk left the parking lot so quickly that deputies briefly lost sight of him, Briscoe said.

Once they caught up and spotted the car, deputies passed a special code to dispatchers to have the monitoring company shut down the engine. That order was misunderstood, however, and it took several more attempts before the company understood what the deputies wanted.

Vanarendonk, meanwhile, had raced up First Street from Walnut Street to about I Street, hitting a top speed of 93 mph before dumping the vehicle as officers closed in. He was caught near the scene.

Briscoe said the com-munication issue with the monitoring company has been resolved, and deputies have discussed whether it's possible to have them directly control the car's motor to prevent future problems.

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