A man and woman went looking for Jet Ski parts earlier this month, but they opted out of actually paying for those parts and the Juneau Police Department wants the community’s help identifying the pair.
“It’s the kind of shopping we don’t endorse,” JPD Lt. Kris Sell said in a phone interview Monday.
Sell said on July 16, an auto sales lot’s video surveillance captured a man and woman pulling up in a dark blue truck with a bright yellow Jet Ski in their truck bed. When the pair spotted a white Jet Ski in the Lemon Creek auto lot in the 5400 block of Commercial Boulevard, they parked next to it, took a part they wanted, then left. All of this happened around 6:55 p.m. on a clear and bright day, which Sell said is the most disconcerting part.
“While the cost of the part is low, the boldness of the behavior suggests JPD would be well served by knowing the identity of the couple,” Sell wrote in a JPD Facebook post on Monday about the incident. Sell said on the phone she wasn’t sure the exact name of the Jet Ski part that was taken and did not say what it’s estimated cost is. That post has since been shared more than 70 times and Sell said the comments reflect a collective “Oh, come on,” that the community is feeling about such “brazen” criminal activity.
“It strikes a chord with people,” Sell said about the post. “The public is fed up.”
Although the post is getting a lot of shares and comments on Facebook, Sell said the department hasn’t received any solid leads, which is surprising because the truck the alleged thieves were riding in has a sizable dent on the driver’s side and the Jet Ski seen in the truck that the pair is believed to own is bright yellow.
Sell said anything about the woman or man in the image, or even a license plate for the truck, could help the department go a long way in catching the pair. Their willingness to commit a crime in broad daylight gives the department reason to believe they could be tied to other criminal activity, or building up to it, Sell said.
Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call JPD at 586-0600, or visit the Juneau Crime Line’s website at juneaucrimeline.com to leave an anonymous tip. Tipsters are guaranteed anonymity and can be rewarded.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
