A man who was participating in a church’s recovery program for drug addicts has been accused of stealing the congregation-owned car located in Olympia.
Nicholas Lindo, 33, of Union, was arrested on July 9 after Jason Simchen, a program manager for Gethsemane Ministries, reported locating a vehicle stolen from the ministry on the 3200 block of Ensign Road NE, near Providence St. Peter Hospital.
According to the police report, Lindo was left alone at the ministry during a church service, at which time, the suspect entered an office and stole the keys to a 1998 Chevy Suburban owned by the ministry.
Simchen told The JOLT that the suspect joined the ministry two days prior to the incident.
After the church service, Simchen and other ministry employees went to Ensign Road to search for the vehicle because Lindo is known to hang out there.
“When we were driving down the road, there it was, parked on the side of the road,” Simchen said in an interview.
“When we pulled up, he [Lindo] was in it, and so we stopped and hopped out, and then he hopped out and tried to run,” Simchen furthered. “We grabbed him and put him back in the Suburban and held him there until the cops showed up and [we] had him tell them exactly what he did.”
Police said Lindo admitted to stealing the vehicle. Olympia police handed Lindo over to Mason County Sheriff’s deputies, who had established probable cause to arrest him for auto theft.
Lindo was booked into the Mason County Jail for vehicle theft. Jail records show that he is still in custody.
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