A 46-year-old Lakeside woman is behind bars and her accused accomplice remains on the run after a $50,000 trailer theft in Alpine touched off a sprawling investigation that stretched from a rural border town to a firearm recovery in a county park to a 60-mile police chase that ended in the alleyways of Pacific Beach.
San Diego County Sheriff's Crime Suppression Team investigators, who are assigned to the Alpine Sheriff's Station, took Lindsey Newcomb into custody at a home in Lakeside, according to the ABC 10News San Diego report on the case. Investigators say they discovered some of the stolen items during a search of that Lakeside home. Newcomb, born February 10, 1980, is suspected of possessing a stolen trailer, according to San Diego County Sheriff's Office records.
The case began around 3:30 AM last Wednesday, when surveillance footage allegedly showed two suspects stealing an enclosed trailer that contained a Polaris RZR off-road vehicle and other items, per the ABC 10News report. The Sheriff's Office says the total haul was worth about $50,000. Detectives allege Newcomb and Eric Leitzke, a 55-year-old man born July 5, 1971, with an extensive criminal history, stole the trailer together.
License Plate Readers Point Deputies to Boulevard
Deputies used Automated License Plate Readers to help locate the stolen vehicle, according the same report. The county Sheriff's Office operates its ALPR network under Department Procedure Section 6.130, which governs how the automated camera system logs plates and locations to flag stolen property against law enforcement hotlists, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.
That technology led detectives to an undisclosed property in Boulevard, an unincorporated rural community near the U.S.–Mexico border, roughly 35 miles east of Alpine, where the suspect vehicle was located. Before officers could make contact, Leitzke allegedly drove away on a motorcycle, according to the Sheriff's Office. Detectives shadowed him until backup arrived, including Sheriff's Rural Enforcement patrol units and a Sheriff's ASTREA helicopter that provided continuous aerial tracking.
Chase Stretches 60 Miles to the Coast
What followed was a pursuit spanning roughly 60 miles west, from the rural expanse of East County all the way to the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Beach. Leitzke allegedly eluded law enforcement by maneuvering into narrow alleyways there, and deputies ultimately terminated the chase, a decision the Sheriff's Office frames as standard procedure when collision risks in dense urban neighborhoods outweigh the value of immediate apprehension.
While the chase was still unfolding, Rural Enforcement deputies retraced Leitzke's earlier flight path and entered Pine Valley Park in Pine Valley, a public recreational area off Interstate 8 in rural East San Diego County. There, deputies say they discovered a firearm that had allegedly been discarded by Leitzke. Rural Enforcement deputies pulled back from the chase itself once the Pine Valley search was underway, per the Sheriff's Office account relayed by ABC 10News.
What Charges Could Follow
Leitzke is now sought in connection with the Alpine theft case, and the San Diego County Sheriff's Office has urged anyone with information about his whereabouts to call 858-868-3200. The theft and the pursuit remain under an ongoing investigation, and it is not yet known whether the firearm recovered in Pine Valley Park is linked to any prior crimes or whether Leitzke will face an additional felon-in-possession charge given his criminal history — a question the dossier of official records leaves unresolved.
Under California Vehicle Code Section 2800.2, evading a pursuing peace officer with willful or wanton disregard for safety is a wobbler offense punishable by up to three years in state prison, according to the Shouse Law Group. Separately, California Penal Code Section 487 defines grand theft as unlawfully taking property valued above $950, itself a wobbler carrying up to three years in county jail — a threshold the $50,000 in stolen trailer and off-road equipment clears more than fiftyfold. Whatever portion of that property was not recovered in Lakeside has not been located, according to the available Sheriff's Office information.
Possessing or concealing stolen property worth more than $950 is also a wobbler under California Penal Code Section 496, punishable by up to three years in jail, per the Zak Fisher Law overview of the statute — a law that could bear on the items investigators recovered inside the Lakeside residence where Newcomb was arrested.
Property Crime Across the County
The Alpine case lands amid a broader pattern of vehicle theft and property crime across the region. San Diego County law enforcement agencies recorded 7,385 motor vehicle thefts and 27,521 larcenies in 2025 across a regional population of 3.28 million, according to 2026 crime reporting data compiled by GNS. Motor vehicle theft remains one of the most frequently reported property crimes in the county, the same data shows.
For now, Newcomb remains in custody while Leitzke's whereabouts are unknown. The Sheriff's Office says the investigation into the theft and the pursuit that followed is ongoing.
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