Carson City arrests: Couple allegedly take snowplow for joyride while driver eats lunch

A 45-year-old man was arrested Monday in the parking lot of a North Carson Street supermarket for allegedly stealing a snowplow and taking it for a ride while the vehicle owner was in a restaurant having lunch, a Carson City sheriff’s deputy said.

Andrew David Stiefel was arrested at 3:15 p.m. for suspicion of felony grand larceny of a vehicle and providing false information to avoid prosecution and gross misdemeanor possession of burglary tools. He also had a felony warrant for his arrest out of California.

According to the booking report, deputies were called to the parking lot after dispatch advised that a man reportedly stole a yellow snowplow and that the plow owner and another person had detained the suspect.

Deputies arrived, cuffed the suspect and interviewed the owner of the plow who said he had parked it in the parking lot. He said he was having lunch at Bully’s with a friend and saw the plow going down the road. He said he saw a male driving as well as a female passenger.

The snowplow owner said he and his friend got into a car and followed the snowplow around the west side of the grocery store and saw the plow park at the north end. The victim said he found the male in the driver’s seat as well as a female hunkered down on the floorboard of the passenger side. The snowplow owner said they told the female to get lost and she left on foot eastbound from the supermarket, the arrest report states.

The snowplow owner said he and his friend ordered the man out of the vehicle and they detained him until deputies arrived.

The friend of the snowplow owner verified the story and confirmed they had detained the same male they saw driving the plow. He described the female as having red hair, a black side bag, beige shirt and black tights. He said the female was also pregnant. Both men completed statements.

Investigating deputies put out a description of the woman to locate her.

Deputies looked inside the snowplow and found a set of pliers and wires that were pulled out and broken off. Also located inside the vehicle was a bag on the passenger seat full of tools that are commonly used in burglaries, the arrest report states.

Sheriff’s deputies then spoke with the suspect, who provided a name which turned out was not his name. The officer suspected the man was lying as he did not know his social security number. He was read his Miranda rights and agreed to speak. He said he and the woman didn’t steal the plow but only entered it to stay warm. After speaking with him, dispatch advised they caught the snowplow on their cameras just prior to the call out for the incident.

Dispatch advised the camera showed a man and woman inside the snowplow. Based on the victim’s statement and the fact that the suspect was inside the vehicle with the wires broken off and a set of pliers on the floorboard, and that dispatch advised the snowplow was mobile on camera with a man and woman inside, the suspect was taken into custody.

The man was booked into jail while deputies asked dispatch for a description of the man they arrested, which didn’t match the identity the suspect gave officers. The man later confessed to his real name, Andrew David Stiefel, and said he lied because he believed he had a warrant out of California.

The warrant was out of Superior Court of California and had a no bail hold. He was arrested on the charges. The local bail amount for Stiefel is $37,500. He also has the no bail hold out of California Superior Court. The woman has not been located.

In other arrests:
— Two were arrested Monday in the 1800 block of North Edmonds Drive for suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance, a Carson City sheriff’s deputy said.

Adrianna Lynn Venagas, 24, and Hector Soriano-Hernandez, 23, were taken into custody at 8:55 a.m. Venagas also faces a misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the arrest report, deputies were called to a casino on North Edmonds for a report of a man acting suspicious on the casino floor.

A deputy arrived and made verbal contact with the male and female, who appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance. Both were fidgety, hyper and would not stop moving. The man was asked for identification. As he pulled out his wallet, 2 micro baggies that fell out of his wallet.

Both were detained. After a closer look of the baggies, it was determined they had methamphetamine residue. The man was placed into custody. A K9 unit was called to the location, where the woman had said her wallet was inside her purse located in a Nissan truck they arrived in.

The K9 alerted positive and deputies located the woman’s purse inside the truck, which contained a mirror with methamphetamine residue, and two micro baggies with methamphetamine residue. She was placed under arrested. During a search of the woman during the incident deputies located 2 micro baggies in her sweatshirt pocket containing methamphetamine, two methamphetamine class pipes and a sandwich size bag containing methamphetamine. Both were taken to jail. During jail intake an inventory of the man’s personal property included a small clear plastic baggie with methamphetamine.

Bail: Bail for Venagas: $3,637. Bail for Soriano-Hernandez, $2,500.

— All information for the crime log (unless otherwise noted) comes from the arrest reports supplied by the Carson City Sheriff's Office, and is considered by law to be public information. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The policy of Carson Now is to name anyone who is arrested for a felony offense.