Three people are in custody after police say they were found in possession of a vehicle reported stolen from a Morgantown residence last week.
The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department had been on the lookout for a navy blue 2007 Saturn Aura XR with Ohio registration that had been reported stolen from a Luke Street residence “between the late evening hours of Tuesday, April 11, and the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 12,” criminal complaints said.
At approximately 1 p.m. on Monday, Deputy Erin Kohler reported seeing a vehicle matching the description of the stolen Saturn at the Sheetz gas station at 1012 University Avenue.
According to the complaint, Kohler provided dispatchers with the West Virginia registration displayed on the vehicle, which returned to a Subaru, not a Saturn.
The deputy stopped the vehicle on Chestnut Street and began speaking with three individuals identified as Jonathan Wayne Pyles, 39, Tyler T. Kinsley, 39, and Mica Elizabeth Gilmore, 21, all of Morgantown.
Gilmore, who was driving the vehicle, said she was given permission to borrow the car by “the suspect in the actual theft of the vehicle.” Allegedly, the unidentified suspect left the car “abandoned for her to get in a rural area on Glory Barn Road,” which runs between U.S. 19 and River Road.
Gilmore allegedly admitted the situation was “suspicious.”
After picking up the vehicle, Gilmore went to another person’s house and picked up the two male passengers.
Pyles, the front passenger, told deputies that Gilmore was giving him a ride to the pawn shop for him to pawn some tools.
The vehicle’s proper Ohio registration was found in plain view on the floor of the back seat, near where Kinsley was seated.
According to Deputy Kohler, the actual theft of the vehicle is still being investigated and further arrests may be pending.
All three defendants are charged with receiving or transferring stolen goods and were arraigned in Monongalia County Magistrate Court. They are currently being held at North Central Regional Jail. Bond for each was set at $10,000. Preliminary hearings are currently scheduled for April 27.
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