Contributed Photo/Courtesy GCSO: Kayla Pike was arrested and booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility on a charge of theft of means of transportation and a warrant regarding shoplifting.
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – Kayla Pike told an officer that she believed the vehicle her cousin loaned her was stolen but didn’t know for sure so she used it anyway. That decision, coupled with that the vehicle was parked suspiciously behind Sun Pumps more than a block from where Pike was living and Pike was found using the stolen vehicle led to her arrest Thursday, Sept. 5.
Officers were initially dispatched to the area behind Sun Pumps for an apparently abandoned car but upon arrival, the vehicle was not there. A check of the vehicle’s license plate that was given to the officer by the original reporting party showed it was listed as being stolen out of Glendale.
The vehicle was later spotted at Walmart, but it left the parking lot prior to an officer’s arrival. Another officer picked it back up as it made a turn onto Gila Avenue from 7th Street. The officer believed the driver may have been taking it back behind Sun Pumps and initiated a traffic stop at the intersection of Gila Avenue and Main Street.
The driver, later identified as Pike, said she had borrowed the car from her cousin but was wary of doing so because she knows her cousin to be a drug user who is frequently involved in criminal activity. She said her cousin advised the car belonged to one of her friends but that she seemed high when she let her borrow the car. Pike’s 5-year-old son was also in the vehicle with her.
During the interaction, the officer learned Pike had an active warrant regarding shoplifting as well. Pike was then arrested and booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility on charges of theft of means of transportation and her warrant. The report did not specify who took custody of the child.
