Thief steals mayor’s van to get to drug court

Maple Valley Mayor Bill Allison didn’t even know a van he owns was stolen when he got a call Monday morning from the Maple Valley Police Department the vehicle was recovered.

Maple Valley Mayor Bill Allison didn’t even know a van he owns was stolen when he got a call Monday morning from the Maple Valley Police Department the vehicle was recovered.

The van, an older vehicle that Allison doesn’t even drive, but keeps parked in front of his business, I-5 Driving School in Maple Valley, so students can practice parallel parking, was stolen sometime over the weekend.

Allison said Maple Valley Police Department traffic officer Greg Victor called him at little after 8:30 a.m. Monday and asked him where his van was.

“I stated it was in front of my business where it always is and (Victor) said, ‘No, it’s not,’” Allison said with a laugh Monday night.

The officer stopped the van in the 23900 block of 196th Avenue Southeast. The man driving the van was found to have a suspended drivers license and an arrest warrant in Bonney Lake, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office blog. The man reportedly told the officer he was on his way to drug court. He was booked into the Regional Justice Center for investigation of possession of stolen property and the warrant.

Allison said that one of the reasons they only use the van for parallel parking practice is because it has no brakes.

“It’s not road worthy,” Allison said. “The fact that they saw it, caught it…it’s a great story to tell for driver’s ed. The greatest thing about it is that no one got hurt.”