Couple charged after allegedly stealing truck after being told ‘they could have it’

IDAHO FALLS – Two people were recently charged with felonies after allegedly stealing a truck they apparently thought they could have.

Lynda Havens, 48, and William Reese, 49, were charged with felony receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle on Monday after they reportedly were told by a tow truck employee they could “have” an abandoned truck that was not actually abandoned.

Idaho Falls Police received a call from a woman Saturday who had earlier reported that her truck had been stolen, but now said she had found it.

Police met with the woman, who said her truck had been stolen from the parking lot of her apartment building, but that she had later found it parked further down the street.

The woman said the truck was now damaged on the front end, the overhead lights in the cab were destroyed, the ignition housing was ripped off and a screwdriver was stuck in it, and there was a “large amount of miscellaneous property in the bed of the truck that was not hers.”

She told officers that when she found the truck, she and her daughter were standing by it when two people came up to them.

The two people, later identified as Havens and Reese, told the woman “someone from a tow truck company told them they could have the truck because it was abandoned.”

When interviewed by police, Havens said she was notified via email that the truck was abandoned and that an “unknown tow truck company from St. Anthony came over and were about to tow the vehicle.”

Havens then switched up her story and said she and Reese happened to be walking by when the tow truck driver “randomly told them they could have the vehicle,” according to the police report.

When officers asked to see the email, Havens said she would have to go back to her apartment to get her phone.

After a while, officers went to the apartment to see why they had been looking for her phone for so long.

Havens told them that Reese was looking for the email but when Reese came out, he told them that an “unknown person who was not the owner of the vehicle gave him permission to take the vehicle for free.”

Reese then admitted to starting the vehicle using a screwdriver, taking apart the ignition, and crashing the truck into a pole somewhere in Ammon, court documents say.

When asked why the truck was now missing the battery, Reese told police the tow truck driver had taken it before he was given the truck.

Havens ended up admitting to helping Reese take the truck, but said she “thought it was okay because an unknown tow truck driver told them they could for free.” She also admitted to police that her story sounded “not true,” according to court records.

Both are scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing on Sept. 9.

Though Havens and Reese have been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean they committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If convicted, they could each face up to five years in prison.