UPDATE: SPD confirms the arrest of one man in this incident and clarified some of the circumstances of the bust. According to an SPD spokesperson, an officer driving along Aloha early Monday morning passed a vehicle and saw a male and a female exiting the bed of a parked truck around 5:30 AM. The officer stopped and got conflicting stories from the man and the woman exiting the vehicle and the truck’s driver. As the truck drove away from the scene, the results of a plate check showed the Toyota pick-up was stolen. The driver was then pulled over near 14th and Republican, arrested and booked into jail, as we reported below. The two passengers were interviewed and released, according to SPD. According to state records, the man booked for investigation of auto theft appears to be a first time offender.

Original report: Residents living near 13th and Republican got an early morning wake-up call Monday morning as Seattle police pursued a group of people involved with an early morning car theft in the neighborhood.

Details are still a little sketchy but it appears that SPD arrested one man and booked him on investigation of auto theft while two others got away.

The two others who were in the vehicle officers pursued after they disrupted the theft fled on foot from a silver Toyota pick-up. They were last seen near 13th and Aloha before 6 Monday morning. The man was described as a white male, 5’6″ and bald and the woman he fled with was a white female around 5’2″ with brown hair tied in a bun. The man police said they were looking for was known by East Precinct officers and had recently been released from jail after serving time on burglary charges.

Police said they had recovered the stolen vehicle at the scene but it’s not clear if the pick-up was the car that was being stolen or if it had been stolen in another incident. According to East Precinct radio transmissions, the owner of the vehicle that was being stolen was contacted and was helping officers recover property found in his vehicle that did not belong to him. Police also found two bicycles at the scene that were believed to be stolen.

The area of Republican where this incident went down Monday morning has had a busy few days of crime. We reported earlier on a gunpoint robbery nearby the location in Saturday’s early morning hours.

SeattleCrime reported Monday on SPD’s investigation of an auto theft ring involving bogus used car sales and older, often Japanese-manufactured cars:

Each car was : older vehicles—typically with Japanese-made ignition systems like Nissans, Hondas, Toyotas, and Subarus—which thieves are able to start and steal using shaved or altered keys.

There have been about 24 automobile thefts reported on Capitol Hill in the last 30 days (see the map below) and five in the past week — including one Saturday morning at 14th and Republican. We’ll follow up with SPD to find out if Monday’s arrest is related to Saturday’s boost and to find out more about the man who was arrested.

Thanks to Dan for the tip on Monday morning’s incident. If you see something we should know about, drop us a note on Twitter or call/text (206) 399-5959.