Detectives arrested two additional people suspected of stealing a Freeman parent's purse out of their car just after last week's shooting and racking up approximately $36,000 in fraudulent charges.The first suspect in the case, Nicole Jensen (pictured above), faced a judge on Tuesday. Jensen has been charged with eight counts of 2nd Degree Theft, Vehicle Prowling, 3rd Degree Theft, and Possession of a Controlled Substance: Cocaine. Her bond was set at $50,000.
37-year-old Renee Mann (pictured above) was booked into the Spokane County Jail Tuesday night just before 10:00 p.m., initially on 13 charges, including Theft, Identity Theft, and Forgery. Mann made her first court appearance on Wednesday. She has now been charged with eight counts of 2nd Degree Theft, Identity Theft, Forgery, and 3rd Degree Theft. Mann's bond has also been set at $50,000.
Deputies say 39-year-old Larry D. Flett (pictured above) was also arrested in connection to the case. Flett also made his first court appearance on Wednesday. He has been charged with eight counts of 2nd Degree Theft, Vehicle Prowling, and 3rd Degree Theft. Flett's bond has been set at $75,000.
Court documents released on Wednesday show Jensen, Mann, and Flett were all driving back to Spokane from the Coeur d'Alene Casino on September 13, 2017, when they saw the heavy police activity at Freeman High School due to the shooting.
Mann and Flett both told detectives Jensen stopped the car. Flett stated Jensen said they should steal a backpack from a parked motorcycle on the side of Highway 27. Flett then told detectives Jensen stopped the car north of the school, got out of the car and returned with a purse. Flett says Jensen went through the purse and then her and Mann went to Walmart and Fred Meyer to buy stuff, but he did not get the items.
Mann's statement to detectives mirrors Flett's, except she says both Jensen and Flett left the car and came back with a purse. Mann said it was Jensen's idea to go to the store and buy things they could later return. Mann said she purchased items for her home.
Jensen told detectives Mann gave her two credit cards because Mann owed her money. According to court documents, Jensen stated that Mann is a drug dealer and she believed the credit cards were from a drug debt owed by a drug user. Jensen said she only learned the cards were from a car prowling at Freeman after she used them. Court documents show Jensen was also in possession of cocaine during her arrest.
After the story broke in the media, tips began pouring in to detectives and Jensen and Mann were identified as suspects.
(CLICK HERE for more surveillance photos, courtesy of the Spokane County Sheriff's Office)
A Facebook post from the Spokane County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday included the following:
"On September 19, 2017, at approximately 7:50 p.m., a joint operation between the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Task Force (ITF), the Spokane Police Department PACT Team, and the Spokane Police Department Patrol Division led to the arrest of the two additional suspects involved in the vehicle prowling. Within hours, the suspects fraudulently used the victim’s stolen credit cards.
Sheriff’s Office lead ITF Detective Dean Meyer applied for, and was granted, a search warrant for a residence in the 1500 block of N. Lincoln Street in Spokane. Together the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Task Force, the Spokane Police Department PACT Team and the Spokane Police Department Patrol Division executed the warrant and arrested Flett and Mann.
A third person, unrelated to this incident, was contacted at the location and arrested for an active Washington State Department of Corrections Escape Community Custody warrant.
These arrests are the direct result of the community taking action and assisting law enforcement with identifying these suspects, as well as all the local law enforcement agencies coming together, working as a team to locate, arrest and hold these suspects accountable for their criminal acts."
(story and courtroom photos/videos: KHQ.com)