Seattle man sentenced for stealing F-350

COEUR d’ALENE — A stolen vehicle chase in the night, on a snowy road earlier this year near Hayden Lake, ended in a prison term for a Seattle man.

Levi G. Read, 26, was sentenced in Coeur d’Alene’s 1st District Court to between two and eight years in prison on a felony grand theft charge, and two to five years in prison for eluding Kootenai County Sheriff deputies in February with a pickup stolen on the coast.

At Read’s Coeur d’Alene sentencing District Judge Lansing Haynes said he was astonished by the defendant’s criminal record, particularly the number of theft charges that Read attributed to drug use.

“It’s a shocking criminal history with the number of thefts,” Haynes said.

He retained jurisdiction allowing Read to attend a prison rider program that could last a year and serves to rehabilitate offenders before releasing them on probation. If they reoffend, they could serve their entire prison term.

“I really hope you throw your heart and soul into the program,” Haynes told Read.

At an earlier hearing in which he pleaded guilty to the two charges as part of an agreement that dismissed three misdemeanor drug and paraphernalia charges, Read was asked to explain why he had reason to believe the Ford F-350 was stolen.

“I knew it was stolen, because I stole it,” he told the court.

Read, who sports a “bone collector” tattoo on a shoulder and has “Love money” tattooed on his knuckles, and passenger Earlayna Nelson, 19, drove the stolen pickup truck from Enumclaw, Wash., on their way to Montana to meet a friend. The vehicle was spotted after midnight Feb. 22 in Hayden and a deputy started pursuing the green Ford as it turned east onto Garwood Road.

Deputy Adam Zitterkopf stopped the pickup truck, but the driver refused to turn off the vehicle’s ignition, then sped away when another deputy arrived, leading both officers on a chase toward Lancaster Road as snow fell, making traveling slick.

The pickup truck exceeded speeds of 80 mph, according to the deputy’s report, leaving the road once to slam into a snowbank before regaining the blacktop and driving to English Point where the vehicle was abandoned.

“Due to the fact that Read was traveling well above the posted speed limit (approximately 80-plus mph) and the snow conditions, it was difficult to stay caught up,” Zitterkopf wrote in his report.

Deputies called a K9 to the abandoned pickup truck and followed tracks in the snow. They found Read and Nelson hiding in a tree.

Because of Read’s criminal history, Deputy Prosecutor Rebecca Perez had asked Haynes to run Read’s sentences consecutively.

“I see at least 10 theft offenses,” Perez said. “He has established himself as a thief in multiple states.”

Public Defender Chris Schwartz blamed Read’s history on drug use and a lack of treatment.

“The rider would give him those tools,” he said.

Nelson, who was also arrested, was convicted of obstructing officers, a misdemeanor and sentenced to 90 days in jail with 73 days suspended and credit for 17 days she served in the Kootenai County jail.