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Panhandlers say they bought car for ‘weed and $20’

A panhandling complaint resulted in a pair of arrests for car theft in Rifle last week.

On July 18, Rifle police received a complaint that a pair of panhandlers were refusing to leave a Rifle gas station. Police contacted the couple, Jeffrey Kaiser-Plante, 31, who has no listed address, and Kathleen Maddox, 22, most recently of St. Paul, Minnesota, and issued them warnings.

After seeing the pair parked at several locations, an officer ran the vehicle’s plates and discovered it had been reported stolen in Las Vegas.



The suspects told police they bought the 2011 Kia Rio from a “crackhead” for “some weed and $20,” according to the arrest affidavit.

Neither Kaiser-Plante nor Maddox could produce a title or registration for the vehicle and Kaiser-Plante admitted he suspected the car was stolen, the arrest affidavit said.



The suspects face preliminary fourth-degree felony theft charges.

Maddox also faces misdemeanor charges for a violation of an old restraining order forbidding contact with Kaiser-Plante, as well as failure to appear.

Kaiser-Plante and Maddox are being held at the Garfield County Jail on $5,000 and $7,000 bond, respectively.


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