SUSPECTED TRUCK THIEF ARRESTED BY NAVASOTA POLICE
A suspected truck thief was taken into custody on Sunday night after being caught by the Navasota Police Department.
(Grimes Co. Jail)
Around 8pm, Navasota Police Officers responded to a call in the 600 block of White Street to a report of an attempted vehicle theft.
Witnesses stated a male suspect broke into a Dodge 2500 truck and attempted to steal it, but had fled without taking the truck.
Upon investigation, officers discovered the steering column had been damaged.
Then at approximately 10pm, Police responded to a call in the 1800 block of Birdie Court to a report of an attempted theft of another Dodge 2500 truck.
Officers located the truck, which was still running but unoccupied, on the sidewalk in the 7700 block of Bunker Street.
Neighbors told police that they witnessed a suspect fleeing on foot towards Highway 105. Officers patrolled the area searching for suspects.
During the same time frame of around 10pm, another Navasota Officer, while patrolling the east side of town, observed a vehicle in the back of a property in the 9900 block of State Highway 6.
The officer made contact with a subject who was identified as 37-year-old J.R. Copeland of Grimes County.
Copeland was discovered to be driving a Ford F-450 truck and was attempting to steal a Ford F-250.
The Ford F-450 was found to be stolen out of Harris County and had a car hauler trailer attached to it. The trailer had no identifying numbers or registration.
During the investigation, it was determined the Ford F-250 truck had contained evidence related to the attempted theft.
Copeland was taken into custody for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle, Theft ($2500-30,000), and a fictitious license plate.
Navasota Police Investigators are investigating the cases and asking anyone with information or video footage related to the attempted thefts to contact the Navasota Police Criminal Investigations Division at (936)825-6410 or Grimes County Crime Stoppers at (936)873-2000.
If this guy is guilty of the alleged crimes, I hope they put him away for a long time. The thief that has been doing this has done a lot of damage in Pecan Lakes Estates and including stealing a truck from one of my neighbors. We have had enough of people prowling our community, many of us have installed cameras and the police have been vigilant in patrolling this area more. We are thankful for our Police officers for catching this guy.
Law enforcement does their job with the help of information from the victims of these crimes. The question then becomes will the criminal justice system do its job and make sure there are consequences for this type of illegal behavior. I hope so, but recent history demonstrates that there are a lot of instances where there are no consequences. What we allow is what will continue.