Stolen plane found in Washington

BONNERS FERRY — A plane which crash-landed in a clear-cut field near Granite Falls, Wash., has been identified as one stolen earlier in the week in Boundary County.

The Cessna 182 was damaged in the crash and the person responsible for taking the plane had fled the scene, according to Rebecca Hover, public information officer for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

Hover said it looked as if it was a hard landing, but the crash looked survivable and there was no evidence the suspect was injured in the crash.

“We have people checking for evidence of people in the area with injuries but it is possible the person just walked,” said Hover.

The Cessna 182, worth $340,000, belonged to Pat Gardiner of Porthill. The plane was taken from its locked hangar early Tuesday morning, despite motion detectors and lights around the hangar.

The plane could have crash-landed as early as Tuesday, Hover said.

“We contacted the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board and one of these agencies will remove the plane maybe as early as this afternoon,” Hover said.

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Auto-Theft Task Force is heading up the investigation.

According to Boundary County Sheriff’s Det. Dave McClelland, the plane was spotted by a logger on Thursday, who called a friend who passed along the information to Boundary County officials.

“We called Snohomish County Sheriff after receiving the call and they secured the scene,” said McClelland.

Neither McClelland nor Hover would say if a suspect had been identified in the theft.

“We can give out very limited information,” said McClelland. At this point we have some method operations from a suspect but nothing is conclusive.”

Boundary County and Snohomish County authorities say they don’t know whether Colton Harris-Moore, an 18-year-old suspect in dozens of break-ins on Camano, Orcas and San Juan Islands as well as Point Roberts, is to blame. But they say it fits his pattern, and that he could have traveled through Canada to Idaho.

Harris Moore is also being investigated in two airplane thefts in San Juan County, one last year and one this year.

The local sheriff’s office will continue its investigation of the theft from the airport site while the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office will lead the investigation of the crime scene in Washington state.

—The Associated Press contributed to this report.