Dozens of cars and trucks had their tires slashed in Missouri Valley this week. Now, police are trying to connect one suspect to the crimes.
Police say on November 22nd and 23rd, someone slashed tires on more than 55 vehicles. There was no rhyme or reason for the damage, and some vehicles had 1-4 tires slashed while semis had 6-8 tires punctured. Then on Thanksgiving, windows are busted at two businesses and on two vehicles.
Police arrest Steven Pleas, 46, on one count of 2nd degree criminal mischief. Surveillance caught him on video breaking at least one of the windows.
"For us it was pretty important, last night was the first night in 3 nights that we haven't had any criminal mischief cases,” said Assistant Chief Lee Lange with the Missouri Valley PD.
Assistant Chief Lange says they're looking at pleas as a suspect in the tire slashing cases.
Tom Wood has been going to “Work It Out” fitness for years, where their door was broken. He says the police did a great job of quickly arresting the suspect.
"It's terrible, it's unfortunate to have a nice place like this to come work out and have it vandalized like that along with other businesses and people around here it's really unfortunate,” Wood explained.
Police met with the county attorney on Friday to discuss the investigation and see if he can be charged with the vehicle vandalisms. Collectively, they estimate the damage to be tens of thousands of dollars.
Pleas had his bond set at $5,000 Friday morning and is still at the Harrison County Jail.
This month, he'd already been arrested twice for 3rd degree harassment, and disorderly conduct.
