Suspected car thief arrested again after driving stolen car off road and calling 911 for help

Published 11:03 am Tuesday, September 30, 2014

A woman accused of stealing a car from a Bainbridge auto repair shop last week faced a new felony charge this week in a separate case where authorities allege she stole a car Monday that was parked outside a 7-Eleven store in Port Orchard.

Police found the suspected car thief, identified in court papers as Cristina Javon Chavez, after she called 911 for help after she drove the stolen car off the road and into a fence on Birch Road east of Port Orchard a few hours after allegedly stealing the vehicle.

Chavez, 38, was charged with felony possession of a stolen vehicle on Monday, Sept. 29 in Kitsap County District Court.

According to court papers, a woman told police she left her car running and unlocked when she went into a 7-Eleven store on Bay Street in Port Orchard at roughly 2 a.m. Monday.

When she came back out of the store, the victim discovered her car was missing but told police a heavy set woman had been nearby when she went into the 7-Eleven.

Based on the person’s description, police believed Chavez was responsible for the car theft. Chavez had earlier been booked into jail on the Bainbridge car theft case late last week but had just been released from jail.

The owner of the car that was stolen outside the 7-Eleven early Monday morning also told police that she had left her cell phone in the car, so police initially tried to find the stolen car by “pinging” the cell phone.

A search of the area where the cell phone was believed to be was unsuccessful, however.

Police later found the stolen car — with Chavez inside — after she called 911 at roughly 4:15 a.m. Monday and said she had driven off the road, was stuck and needed help.

Officers arrested Chavez for theft of a motor vehicle and she was booked into Kitsap County Jail Monday morning. Bail was set at $50,000.

It was the second time in less than a week that police in Kitsap County arrested Chavez for taking someone else’s car.

Chavez was arrested by Bainbridge police last week after police determined she had taken a Bainbridge Island woman’s car from an auto repair shop on Olympic Drive on Wednesday, Sept. 24 and tried to pay for the car repairs with counterfeit money.

Bainbridge police arrested Chavez after she returned to the auto repair shop.

Possession of a stolen vehicle carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine upon conviction.