Man Who Stole Purse at Sunset Hills Gas Station Arrested for Car Theft One Week Later

Reporting by Joe Scott

A St. Louis man is accused of stealing a car from a Florissant motel parking lot July 19 had been arrested for a theft in Sunset Hills four days previously.

Tarbis Ward, 23, of the 4400 block of Labadie in St. Louis, was charged July 31 with stealing a motor vehicle.

Ward also was charged July 12 with stealing a woman’s purse at a Sunset Hills gas station. Police said he was driving a car stolen in the city of St. Louis when he stole the purse.

Ward was out of jail on a $15,000-bond on the Sunset Hills theft charge.

Florissant Police said Ward stole a 2013 Dodge Charger from the Motel 6 parking lot, 307 Dunn Road. Police said at about the same time the car was stolen, another person reported a suspicious person looking into cars on the Hampton Inn parking lot, which is adjacent to Motel 6.

During an investigation, Pine Lawn police said one of Ward’s associates said he dumped a stolen car in Pine Lawn.

Florissant Police said the witness who reported the suspicious person picked Ward from a lineup as the person he saw looking into cars on the Hampton Inn lot.

Surveillance video shows a person matching Ward’s description stealing the Dodge Charger, police said.

Bail was set at $25,000, cash only, on the Florissant stolen car charge.