Help Identify this Class A (Criminal Case)

[Dakzuki]

I am doing a favor for local law enforcement which just put a local heroin/meth dealer and thief in jail awaiting trial. He was living in this class A RV. All identification has been removed from it. No manufacturer ID, no plates, VINs removed, etc. I offered to try and crowd source an identification to make their investigation easier. The reward for correctly IDing the RV is the satisfaction of possible ADDING to what he has been charged with. Thanks and here we go:

[msmith1199]

toedtoes wrote:
From my experience there is a big difference between sticking around when you're a witness to a crime and going off on your own playing detective.

Yup there is a difference, but I have no problem with either, depending how far somebody goes in playing detective. I've had victims of crime do a lot of work before on their own cases and many times even solve them. With social media now we see it happening all the time. People often post photos from their security cameras of thieves on social media and they often get identified. The police often post the photos and ask for the public's help and a lot of times the public plays detective and identifies the suspects.

All the OP did here was post a photo and ask if anybody could ID the make and model. He didn't have a gun, he wasn't confronting a suspect, he just asked a very simple question that eventually got answered. And then the self appointed Internet police went off on him.

[msmith1199]

fla-gypsy wrote:
JMO, the local police care little about a raggedy possibly stolen RV. They arrested their suspect and have no desire to use any more resources on it. Do we really want more "neighborhood watch" guys trying to do police work? I thought we saw how bad that can go already?

I want citizens more involved, yes.

[DKeppner]

J-Rooster wrote:
I'm surprised that King County Sheriffs Office didn't partner up with the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab whom are experts at finding any vehicles VIN?

I think you answered your own question. Team up with King County? Not sure King County knows how to team up with anyone.

[fla-gypsy]

JMO, the local police care little about a raggedy possibly stolen RV. They arrested their suspect and have no desire to use any more resources on it. Do we really want more "neighborhood watch" guys trying to do police work? I thought we saw how bad that can go already?

[Romer1]

toedtoes wrote:
Cops don't admire Joe Blow Citizen doing detective work.

But they really appreciate any information you can give them.

[J-Rooster]

I'm surprised that King County Sheriffs Office didn't partner up with the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab whom are experts at finding any vehicles VIN?

[homecan]

It is definitely a Gulfstream grill. They used it on several models over the years.

Could also be a Palm Breeze

[Oilman]

Daksuzi, As you probably already know, On this forum no good deed goes unpunished.

[Executive45]

Daksuzi... it very well could be a 1998 model....they look pretty much the same...Dennis

[Dakzuki]

msmith1199 wrote:
If you read what the op wrote, this was a narcotics search warrant. Narcotics cops tend to care mostly about narcotics and not stolen vehicles, but they will do a stolen vehicle case if it's an easy one. Sounds like the easy to find VIN's were removed from the vehicle. Also sounds like the vehicle is on private property. Also sounds like the search warrant was for drugs and not a stolen vehicle. So to impound this motorhome and start taking it apart to look for the hidden VIN's is likely going to require another warrant. Also looks to me like it is not going to be easy vehicle to tow and will potentially be very expensive to tow with the potential that the law enforcement agency may be paying for that tow. Yeah, they could get a warrant and send officers back out and look for VIN's on the scene, but that could be time consuming. Now if they can get a make and model and do some checking for similar stolen motorhomes maybe they can identify the motorhome as stolen and identify an insurance company that will pay for an impound,

Now this is all just speculation on my part, but I am a retired cop and spent many years in investigations including time in both auto theft and narcotics, and I'm not willing to accuse the OP of being up to no good here. I can see how this can happen.

Thanks.

They had their vehicle guy trying to ID the vehicle and the closest they got was a date ID off the steering column....which was 1998 or so....Ford.


They also had Fish and Game out trying to bag them on other charges. They are looking for everything they can get and if I could short cut the search process I was happy to help.....the help came from here.

Direct quotes from my contact with KCSO:

Me: "Gulfstream Sunsport. Mid 90s or so."

Kojak: "Made by Gulfstream and Sunsport is the model? The Ford steering column is from 1998 so I think it is a 99 or 2000 vintage. Your associates on the RV website id’d it?"

Me: Yep. RVer associate IDed it today. If column is original you are probably correct. Yes, Gulfstream is the manufacturer and Sunsport is the model.


Kojak: Looking at google images as we speak. THANK YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!

Me to RV.Net right now: Thank you all.

[toedtoes]

From my experience there is a big difference between sticking around when you're a witness to a crime and going off on your own playing detective.

[msmith1199]

I don't see any way this can get him in trouble and I have no problem with people helping the police. Everybody should be willing to do so. Just yesterday I witnessed a pretty serious crime take place, and while most of the other people who also witnessed just drove away, I called 911 and waited for the officers and gave them a statement. Now I'm retired, so I'm just a citizen like anybody else and I could have driven away and done nothing like everybody else did. But I don't play that way and don't encourage anybody else to either.

[toedtoes]

I don't think the OP is up to no good. I think the OP is just enjoying playing cop and sticking his nose in stuff that could get him in trouble. I'm a believer of leaving cop work to the cops.

[msmith1199]

If you read what the op wrote, this was a narcotics search warrant. Narcotics cops tend to care mostly about narcotics and not stolen vehicles, but they will do a stolen vehicle case if it's an easy one. Sounds like the easy to find VIN's were removed from the vehicle. Also sounds like the vehicle is on private property. Also sounds like the search warrant was for drugs and not a stolen vehicle. So to impound this motorhome and start taking it apart to look for the hidden VIN's is likely going to require another warrant. Also looks to me like it is not going to be easy vehicle to tow and will potentially be very expensive to tow with the potential that the law enforcement agency may be paying for that tow. Yeah, they could get a warrant and send officers back out and look for VIN's on the scene, but that could be time consuming. Now if they can get a make and model and do some checking for similar stolen motorhomes maybe they can identify the motorhome as stolen and identify an insurance company that will pay for an impound,

Now this is all just speculation on my part, but I am a retired cop and spent many years in investigations including time in both auto theft and narcotics, and I'm not willing to accuse the OP of being up to no good here. I can see how this can happen.

[crasster]

They can pull the VIN off the OBD II computer.