Two Jailed After Grant County Police Discover Stolen Vehicles

Two men are behind bars after police say they were found in possession of multiple stolen vehicles and other stolen items in Grant County on Wednesday.

It began when the owner of a stolen Dodge pickup truck provided deputies with GPS coordinates showing their vehicle had been taken to the 17000 block of Lower Crab Creek Road near Royal City.

"Deputies went there and spotted a Ford F-150 with no visible rear license plate parked in a detached woodshed," said Grant County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, Kyle Foreman. "Records indicated that the F-150 had been stolen and when they went to go check on the vehicle they saw two men flee from the shed."

One of the men who absconded, 37-year-old J. Jesus Carreon Ramirez of Sunnyside, was quickly detained and subsequently arrested.

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Foreman says deputies continued searching the property and turned up more stolen items.

"Deputies found the stolen Dodge pickup they'd originally gone there looking for about a mile away. It was attached to a gooseneck car hauler carrying a one-thousand-gallon fuel tank with five-hundred gallons of diesel inside. Both the trailer and the fuel tank were stolen. They also found another Ford pickup truck that was attached to a five-hundred-gallon fuel tank that were also stolen."

Deputies eventually found the second suspect, 34-year-old Elias Villanueva Ramirez of Prosser, hiding under a tarp about a half-a-mile away and arrested him after a brief foot pursuit.

Both men are now being lodged in the Grant County Jail, with Carreon Ramirez facing charges of motor vehicle theft and Villanueva Ramirez held on charges of resisting arrest, obstructing a law enforcement officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, and theft of motor vehicle

All of the stolen vehicles, fuel tanks, and other property were returned to their rightful owners.

The car hauler's VIN had been obscured and investigators are still searching for its rightful owner.

Foreman says it appears most of the stolen items were taken from Benton and Yakima Counties and transported to Grant County.