Thanks to a story aired by Z107.7 and posted online Wednesday, a member of the public alerted Sheriff’s deputies to the location of a car that had been stolen off a dealership lot in Twentynine Palms Tuesday evening. Deputy Zach Carlos of the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Station spotted the blue 2015 Audi on Highway 62 at 8:30 Thursday morning, being driven eastbound on the highway by Jonathan Polkey, 40, a transient. With assistance from other deputies, Carlos stopped Polkey in the stolen car near Sierra Avenue in Joshua Tree. Just before 7 p.m. Tuesday, a man, identified through surveillance video as a while male with facial hair, went through several unlocked cars at the Twentynine Palms Truck Center before finding keys inside the Audi, which he then drove off the lot. Jonathan Polkey was arrested for investigation of possession of a stolen vehicle, and booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, with his bail set at $50,000. On May 14, Polkey was arrested for a similar offense. A 2009 Ford Focus had been stolen from a Yucca Valley car dealer, and an employee spotted the stolen car—with Polkey inside—in Joshua Tree. Polkey was arrested then for grand theft auto, but a search of court records show he was never charged for that offense.
