Washington man arrested after cops investigating catalytic converter thefts stumble upon the massive outdoor slide inside his home.
Suspect Dustin Bushnell (left) and his nemesis Detective Julie Lee posing with the pilfered playground slide (Pasco Police Department)
It turns out crime really can be a slippery slope.
A Washington man has been arrested after a 400-pound slide stolen from a local playground was found mounted on a kid’s bunk bed inside his mobile home.
Dustin Bushnell, 30, of Burbank, was booked into the Walla Walla County Jail for possession of stolen property as cops finally got to the bottom of a brazen heist, the Pasco Police Department said in a Facebook post Wednesday.
The huge piece of playground equipment had been swiped from a city park back in December.
Late last month, an investigation into a spate of catalytic converter thefts led Pasco Police Detective Julie Lee to Bushnell’s home, where she came “face to face” with the hard-to-miss item inside a child’s bedroom, police said.
“Detective Lee found herself inside the suspect’s home in Burbank, looking for catalytic converters and finding a gigantic slide,” the department wrote, adding that the valuable exhaust emission devices were also located.
The slide had been sawed off at the top and repainted from green to blue before being mounted on the side of a bunk bed, authorities said.
Pasco Parks and Recreation later arrived to recover the slide.
Charges are yet to be brought in connection with the catalytic converter thefts, which continue to be investigated, police said.
A picture posted by the Pasco Police Department shows a smiling Lee sitting at the top of the slide inside the child’s bedroom.
“Detective Julie Lee strikes a pose with the recovered slide!” the photo caption reads.
“Strikes a pose?” one Facebook user commented. “We all know she slid down it a few times.”
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