Son spots family’s stolen car

By Elisa Glushefski

Published: August 1, 2008

When Tim and Ann Jarrell's silver-colored 2003 Toyota Camry was stolen, their 11-year-old son told his parents he was going to look at every silver-colored car on the road.

It turned out that Monday afternoon he was looking at just the right time.

The car was stolen from outside the Jarrells' Dumfries-area house the previous Monday, and the family had given up on the idea that their car would be found.

So they began hunting for a new car and decided to move on.

Early Monday afternoon, Ann was taking her two sons along with a few of their friends to Potomac Mills mall with the plan being to either see a movie or just walk around and window shop.

But after her 11-year-old son Sam spotted the stolen car, the trip quickly turned into an impromptu undercover operation and she followed the stolen car through the mall parking lot.

Ann parked her van just a couple of spaces away from the stolen car and at first wanted to get in the car and drive away.

"I was just so excited to see it, it was like seeing a long lost relative," she said.

Warned against getting near the car and then seeing several people getting into the Toyota, the Jarrells' 15-year-old son called police and Ann slipped into sleuth mode, slinking back in the driver's seat of the not-so-inconspicuous van and trying to stay on her Toyota's tail without being noticed.

She didn't want to lose the car again, but she also didn't want to end up in a precarious situa-tion.

When the Toyota pulled into a parking spot at JCPenney, police arrived and arrested three of the five who were in the stolen car, according to Prince William police and the family.

"It's just kind of unbelievable," Tim said in the basement of the family's home on Francis West Lane. "I bet they were just as surprised when they got caught as we were when our car was sto-len."

Prince William County police filed possession of stolen property charges against Jabari Joshua Johnson, 18, of 17025 Islip Loop, Apt. 304, in Dumfries, and two Woodbridge boys, ages 15 and 16, said police spokeswoman Officer Erika Hernandez.

Johnson was held in lieu of a $5,000 bond and the two juveniles, who police did not identify because they are mi-nors, are being held at the Juvenile Detention Center, Hernandez said.

Over the week it was missing, 300 miles were put on the car and apparently it had been driven into a pole, police said.

With the car back and in the shop for repair work for

damages to the interior and exterior, the Jarrell family said they've had their fill of adventure and are ready for a return to normal life and a much-needed vacation.

Staff writer Elisa Glushefski can be reached at 703-878-8062.