A Pierce County man who found his stolen truck parked with a stranger inside ended up holding her for deputies himself, and what investigators discovered afterward added a strange twist: paperwork suggesting she was trying to put the vehicle in her own name. The confrontation unfolded Tuesday afternoon in South Hill after the truck had been stolen just hours earlier.
Deputies responded at 3:40 p.m. Tuesday to a reported armed carjacking in the 18700 block of Meridian Avenue East, according to the Pierce County Sheriff's Office. The call stemmed from a victim who was attempting to recover his truck, which had been stolen from him earlier that same day. The sheriff's office described the incident as a reported armed carjacking as the situation developed.
The victim spotted his stolen truck with a woman inside, per the same account. When she tried to flee in the vehicle, she crashed into a parked car instead of getting away. The victim then detained her and held her until deputies arrived on scene.
DMV Paperwork Points to Attempted Title Switch
During a search incident to arrest, deputies discovered newly issued DMV paperwork on the suspect. That paperwork indicated she had been attempting to transfer the stolen truck's title into her own name, the sheriff's office reported.
The 33-year-old woman was arrested and booked into jail on vehicle-theft and leaving-the-scene charges.
What Washington Law Says About Title Fraud and Stolen Vehicles
RCW 46.12.750 is titled “Penalties for false statements and illegal transfers.” Separately, RCW 9A.56.068 is titled “Possession of stolen vehicle.”
A Different Kind of Pierce County Carjacking Case
This case differs from another Pierce County carjacking attempt that drew charges in 2023, when a 27-year-old woman was accused of trying to pull a 70-year-old man from his car in Parkland and punching him multiple times, according to MyNorthwest. In that earlier case, deputies had spotted a suspicious occupied vehicle at an apartment complex before the confrontation, and prosecutors ultimately charged the woman with attempted first-degree robbery, eluding, possession of a stolen vehicle, and giving a false statement, with bail set at $250,000. That case remains a separate incident and does not indicate how Tuesday's South Hill case will be charged or resolved.
