Cops: Burglars at Car Dealer Wore Some Interesting Outfits

One was said to be in a 'pimp coat,' the other in a cowboy hat during Spokane break-in
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 27, 2023 1:55 PM CDT

Two suspects have been arrested and police are seeking a third after a car dealership in Spokane, Washington, reported an ambitious break-in earlier this week. Workers at Northtown Auto Sales arrived to work on Tuesday morning to find eight vehicles missing "and a rope hanging down from a giant hole in their office ceiling," per the Spokesman-Review. When staffers checked out surveillance footage, they spotted a suspect rappelling through the hole and into the building at around 2am local time, "like out of a movie," sales manager Johnny Arrotta tells the paper.

More than a dozen pairs of car keys were swiped, and the man seen in the video went back up through the hole, stole a minivan, then came back with a couple of friends to drive more cars off the lot over more than three hours, reports KHQ of the "Mission Impossible-style" operation, as Arrotta deemed it. In the security video, one man could be seen wearing a mask and fur coat down to his knees—a "pimp coat," as Arrotta described it to the Spokesman-Review—while another was sporting a straw cowboy hat. Arrotta says the office used to be a restaurant and that the person who broke in likely came in through an old ceiling vent, which has since been plugged.

Police say they arrested 19-year-old Fran Anunar on Tuesday, who has other burglary arrests and charges under his belt. Anunar reportedly confessed to investigators that he was the person who'd rappelled into the building, per KHQ. He's been charged with burglary and multiple counts of vehicle theft and is being held in the Spokane County Jail on $10,000 bond. Also arrested was 20-year-old Heran Linfield, who's been charged for possession of a stolen vehicle, residential burglary, obstructing a law enforcement officer, and an outstanding warrant for possession of a stolen vehicle.

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Police are still looking for a third suspect, identified by Anunar as a woman who still has one of the stolen cars. She's apparently been identified but isn't yet in custody. Police add that they recovered four of the stolen cars, which included a few BMWs and Mercedes models, at a Spokane apartment complex, per KXLY. Since then, it appears most of the other cars, have been found, reports the Spokesman-Review. (More weird crimes stories.)

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