Man steals van with four disabled women inside

By Leslie Wood
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Police are searching for a man who stole a van with four mentally disabled woman inside from the Wal-Mart parking lot.

The woman range in age from 40 to 50 years old and were in the care of an employee for Coyote Canyon Rehabilitation Center.

Investigator Erin Toadlena-Pablo, of the Gallup Police Department, said the employee left the women inside the agency-issued van while she shopped at the Wal-Mart at 1650 W. Maloney Ave. The van was left on with the keys inside the ignition, she said.

When the employee discovered the women and the van were missing, she notified police who issued an alert to local law enforcement to search for the vehicle at about 9 p.m. Thursday. The Gallup, McKinley County, Window Rock, Crownpoint and Zuni police departments were notified.

Toadlena-Pablo said the employee was not able to remember the van's license plate number, which made the investigation more difficult during its initial stages.

At about midnight, however, police received a phone call from an employee of a laundromat on Nizhoni Boulevard. The laundromat employee reported a van that had been parked in the laundromat's lot for two hours.

Toadlena-Pablo said the van turned out to be the one that was reported stolen and the women were found safe inside.

The women told police that a man who was wearing a black hat and blue jacket had stolen the vehicle and left it in the parking lot. The man fled the location and ran toward the nearby Allsup's convenience store; however, police were unable to locate a suspect.

Anyone with information about the incident, is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 722-6161.