By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Salina Police Department officers caught a vehicle burglary in progress early Wednesday morning in town by a Wichita man.
At 3:34 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 27, SPD officers arrived at 1226 E. Kirwin Ave., an apartment complex, after a witness called the department and reported suspicious activity in the parking lot.
According to SPD Lt. Kyle Tonniges, the witness saw a suspect burglarizing cars and putting the stolen merchandise into his vehicle.
When officers arrived on-scene, they found a silver 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe in the parking lot that Sedgwick County law enforcement reported stolen in Wichita on Dec. 4.
"While looking at the vehicle, the officers noticed somebody was hiding in the back of it," Tonniges said. "this person was later identified as Gage Hartpence-Ray."
Hartpence-Ray is a 26-year-old Wichita resident, and according to Tonniges, he refused to exit the vehicle when officers commanded him to.
Officers then broke the window of the stolen Hyundai Santa Fe and deployed pepper spray to force Hartpence-Ray out of the car.
While investigating the incident, officers found that the suspect had burglarized three cars in the parking lot and caused $100 in damages to a pickup truck.
"We're in the process of inventorying his vehicle, researching prior vehicle burglaries, and seeing what we can piece together," Tonniges said. "There's a good possibility he has been involved in other vehicle burglaries."
SPD requested charges for three counts of vehicle burglary, one count of possession of stolen property, one count of interference with law enforcement and one count of damage to property.