TIRES DEFLATED IN PARK FALLS; SUSPECT FOUND BY POLICE

[My Northern Wisconsin]

   

In the early evening of March 8, 2025, Officer Fohr of the Park Falls Police Department received a phone complaint about tires being deflated in the grocery store's parking lot.  Being on another call, Officer Yusten responded.

The loss prevention specialist at the store had video footage of the incident.

Officer Yusten arrived in the parking lot where he talked with a man who stated someone had pulled the valve stem covers off and then unscrewed the valve stem core, causing the tires to deflate on his cousin's vehicle.  According to the police report, a specific tool is needed to accomplish this.  Two of the valve stem cores were on the ground by each wheel.

Given the man had seen the video footage, he described the vehicle driven by the person who damaged the tires.  It was a black lifted Chevrolet with dark-colored rims.  When being told this information, Officer Yusten realized he saw a vehicle matching that description at the laundromat.

The officer went to the laundromat where he saw a man walk into the building with a basket of clothes.  The man looked at the patrol vehicle a number of times. 

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Officer Yusten took photos of the Chevrolet.  While doing so, the man exited the laundromat with his basket of clothes.  He replied that he was the owner of the truck and was from out of town but was staying at his girlfriend's residence.  He said he had been at the grocery store.  When the officer asked him what he had been doing there, he said he was working on his tires and admitted that he took the valve stem covers off someone's vehicle, because he thought it would be funny.  The man said he only took the valve stem covers off, but the officer did not believe that to be true.

Dispatch advised the officer that the man did not have a valid driver's license, so the officer informed him that his girlfriend, who had a valid driver's license, would need to drive his truck.  The girlfriend gave the officer two black valve stem caps that her boyfriend had taken from the truck, though it was unclear if she played a role in the theft.

Officer Yusten returned to the grocery store's parking lot to ask the woman if she wanted to pursue charges for theft, and she explained that she did, because the man stole her property and inconvenienced her with two flat tires, though her cousin was able to help her put the valve stem cores back in and a portable air pump was used to inflate the tires without issue.  The officer returned the valve stem caps to the woman.

The man committing the theft is no longer allowed in the grocery store, and he received a non-traffic citation for theft of movable property less than $2,500.


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