Man suspected of tossing screws in PFPD driveway

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — The case of damaged vehicles at the Post Falls Police Department is no longer flat.

Police believe they have caught the suspect who allegedly tossed screws in the driveway of the department's gated parking lot multiple times over the past year and a half, screws that damaged or destroyed at least 20 tires.

Douglas F. McLeod, 50, Post Falls, confessed to throwing drywall screws onto the driveway officers and police employees use along Alberta Street behind the police station, Capt. Greg McLean said.

McLean said McLeod was upset with the police department for not taking action after an employee of McLeod's drywall company allegedly stopped payments on a truck McLeod was selling to the worker.

"He wanted us to file it as a stolen vehicle, but it was an agreement between the two so it's a civil matter," McLean said. "He believed that it was our responsibility to get the truck for him.

"Every time he had to make a payment on the truck it angered him so he'd throw screws in our driveway. He was unhappy over something that we have no control over. We don't write the laws."

McLean said McLeod confessed to tossing screws four times.

"He was angered so much that he damaged taxpayer property," McLean said.

McLean said on Monday he is still calculating the damage to the tires to determine if McLeod will be charged with a felony or misdemeanor. The threshold between the two charges is $1,000.

McLeod was not arrested.

McLean said tires on both police cars and employee vehicles were damaged.

"A couple tires had to be completely replaced due to (screws) going through the sidewall," McLean said. "Twenty is the (total) count so far. I think there will be more."

McLeod filed a complaint with PFPD about the vehicle purchase on Dec. 27, 2014. McLean said the first damaged tire occurred on July 3, 2015, and the problems have continued ever since.

As tires continued to go flat, police installed more cameras facing Alberta, McLean said.

"We knew something was going on, but it was difficult to tell exactly when the screws showed up (to review surveillance around that time)," McLean said.

"It may have been a few days before we noticed the first time, then we had snow so they may not have surfaced until the snow melted."

Officers were asked to scan the driveway each time they left or entered the complex to try to pinpoint an estimated time if another incident occurred.

The break came on March 7 when a sergeant noticed screws in the driveway when he returned to the station.

Two other employees said they had left within 10 minutes before that and didn't see any screws.

Detectives reviewed surveillance within minutes of the alleged incident and saw a male driver in a white Ford F250 truck throwing items out his window.

McLeod was identified from the truck's license plate, and officers found the truck about 45 minutes later at the Post Falls Library.

"His truck is very distinct," McLean said.

Detectives found McLeod in the library and, when questioned, he confessed to throwing the screws, McLean said.