Couple charged in slew of car thefts in Washington

Bonneau Harris and Tiffany Schatz are accused of breaking into at least 100 vehicles — many of them Ford pickups — parked outside South King County restaurants, hotels, fitness centers and furniture shops over the past five months.

But the number is a conservative estimate and the couple, who've been charged with several crimes for allegedly stealing cars and identities and trafficking stolen goods, will likely face more charges once the King County Prosecutor's Office reviews another 15 or so cases officers have tied to them, said Kent Police Officer Kevin Bateman.

Harris, 24, and Schatz, 30, were arrested Feb. 4 in SeaTac by Renton detectives after a joint investigation by the Renton, Kent and Tukwila police departments and the King County Sheriff's Office. They each pleaded not guilty Feb. 22 to a number of charges, said prosecutor's spokesman Dan Donohoe.

Detectives discovered a trove of stolen loot inside a Renton public-storage unit the two had rented, Bateman said. They've been able to track down the owners of many of the laptops, iPods, cellphones, GPS systems and other items of value — including a U.S. Army medic's backpack filled with first-aid equipment — and return them.

Officers have also been able to return bunker gear to a SeaTac firefighter and trays of titanium bolts and "exotic composite fabrics" — worth an estimated $20,000 — to a U.S. Department of Defense contractor, Bateman said.

Now, Kent police are working to reunite duffel bags, cameras and a slew of random items — a wedding dress, a pirate's costume, baby clothes, swords and power tools — with their rightful owners.

"There's some woman out there who doesn't have her wedding dress," said Kent police Lt. Lisa Price. "Everything in there is a piece of someone's life."

According to charging documents, Harris and Schatz stole and either pawned or traded the items for drugs and food. They typically prowled vehicles between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., focusing their efforts along Southcenter Boulevard, South 180th Street and Pacific Highway, often targeting Ford F-series pickups, the papers say.

In January, police received a report of a vehicle-theft in progress when a South King County man called 911 and jumped in his car to follow the thief who had just stolen his pickup out of his driveway, the charging documents say. When the thief realized he was being followed he ditched the pickup and jumped into a Jeep, which was also following the pickup, the papers say.

Police traced the Jeep to a trailer park, and stopped Harris and Schatz, who said they'd been out walking their pit bull, the papers say.

At that point, officers had no reason to detain them and the officers continued walking through the park, where they located the Jeep — which they discovered was stolen, its license plates replaced with plates from a vehicle belonging to a resident of the trailer park, according to charging papers.

That incident put police onto Harris and Schatz's trail, allowing them to later identify the couple from surveillance footage at stores where they allegedly used credit cards stolen from different vehicles, the papers say.

An undercover team later spotted the couple leaving a storage facility and got a warrant to search their unit, said Price.

The couple's tan and white pit bull was in the car when Harris and Schatz were taken into custody.

"The name of the dog is Karma. You can't make this stuff up and I laugh every time I hear it," Bateman said. "You could say karma literally bit them."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com