Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Leaky vehicle leads investigators to piece together alleged plan
Posted
A man is under arrest after allegedly stealing and selling catalytic converters support a fentanyl habit.
Glendale police arrested Spencer Okeefe, 27, for two counts of felony burglary from vehicle after catalytic converters are cut from vehicles.
On July 14, a catalytic converter was cut out from the undercarriage of a parked 2019 Kia Sorento SUV while the victim was working a shift at a rehabilitation center located in Glendale. Video surveillance cameras at the facility captured images of a suspicious vehicle loitering in the parking lot. The vehicle appeared to be a BMW SUV with a spray-painted gray and black camouflage paint job. Police began looking for the vehicle.
On Aug. 4, Glendale Police located the BMW SUV with the unique camouflage paint job, and detectives with the department’s Gateway Investigations Team initiated surveillance. Detectives observed the driver, Okeefe, driving randomly about and stopping in various parking lots in the Phoenix Metro area. Detectives noticed that his vehicle was leaking fluids.
At approximately 5:15 a.m. on Aug. 5, a GIT detective entered an apartment complex parking lot located in the 4000 block of West Camelback Road immediately after the BMW SUV exited the lot. The detective found an empty parking space with freshly deposited vehicle fluids. In an adjacent parking space, the detective discovered that a catalytic converter had just been cut out from a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The detective detected a burning metal odor and observed metal shavings.
The BMW SUV drove directly to a motel located in the 7100 block of North 59th Avenue. A detective witnessed Okeefe allegedly quickly exit the BMW carrying a large backpack. Detectives moved in and arrested Okeefe.
In the backpack, detectives allegedly located the catalytic converter stolen from the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Detectives also allegedly recovered a battery-powered metal cutting tool.
Police say Okeefe admitted to a detective that he is taking and selling catalytic converters to support a fentanyl habit. Okeefe was out on release pending auto theft and drug charges from a Glendale incident from March of 2021. He was booked for two counts of burglary from vehicle and remains in custody in a Maricopa County jail.
Glendale police are asking anyone with information about any other crimes involving this vehicle to contact Silent Witness or the Glendale Police Department at 623-930-3000.
