On Friday February 16, 2018, at 7:21 p.m., Central Precinct officers responded to the report of a car prowl in the 200 block of Northwest 13th Avenue. The victim was reporting that an iPad was stolen and was being tracked in the area.
Officers canvassed the area and eventually located the iPad on I-405 after it appeared to have been dropped from an overpass. As officers continued to search the area, an officer saw 42-year-old Joseph Todd Schowengerdt in the area. Schowengerdt was known to the officer from previous contact and the officer was aware that Schowengerdt had outstanding warrants.
Schowengerdt was arrested without incident and as officers inventoried his property, they located property belonging to the car prowl victim.
Schowengerdt was booked into the Multnomah County Jail on several charges including outstanding warrants for his arrest.
The Portland Police Bureau would like to remind community members to keep the interior of their vehicles "showroom" clean. Community members are advised never to leave valuables, including bags, purses, wallets, briefcases, laptops, tablets, cell phones, loose change or anything that may appear valuable to a thief in plain view.
Additional crime prevention tips can be found by visiting the City of Portland's Office of Neighborhood Involvement Crime Prevention page regarding car prowls, http://www.portlandoregon.gov/oni/article/320547
Additionally, the Portland Police Bureau released a video in 2009 titled "Confessions of a Car Prowler," which can be viewed at http://youtu.be/De5IHBoGz6A
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