Western WA man allegedly drove to Tri-Cities to steal construction equipment, trailers
A 45-year-old man allegedly drove across the Cascades to pilfer trailers and construction equipment from work sites in the Tri-Cities.
Police believe Fedir A. Kvashuk drove to the Tri-Cities with a heavy truck late at night during the weekend on several occasions. He broke into storage facilities or construction sites, and loaded stolen trailers with equipment and vehicles before fleeing.
Benton County prosecutors have charged him with three counts of first-degree theft and five counts of theft of a motor vehicle, according to court records.
He is currently out of jail ahead of his next court date on Monday.
The Tri-Cities wasn’t the only place Kvashuk is accused of striking. He is also accused of first-degree theft in Kittitas and Chelan counties. Court documents state he carried out similar crimes in those counties.
His string of crimes lasted for nearly a year starting with him driving away from a Richland storage facility after grabbing two RV trailers a few days apart in October 2020.
Storage facility employees confirmed that Kvashuk was a customer, and a white Isuzu flatbed truck was caught on video stealing one of the trailers.
The first of the thefts was reported on Oct. 9, 2020 when Kvashuk allegedly grabbed a 2017 Coachman Freedom Express RV Trailer from a storage area at 2376 Lindberg Loop.
The property manager explained that Kvashuk was a customer, and had accessed the property around the same period. She also found video of Kvashuk driving an Isuzu flatbed truck stealing another RV days before.
A series of thefts
He made six more trips, allegedly breaking into storage facilities around Richland’s airport or construction sites. One of those was in November 2020, then he made five trips in 2021 — one in July, three in August and one in September.
He took three skid steers, which are a smaller piece of construction equipment, a mini-excavator, two more trailers and two more vans.
In several of the thefts, the same white Isuzu flatbed truck was spotted, either by security video or by cameras at the Interstate 90 weigh station at Cle Elum.
One of the vans that was taken was equipped with a tracker that led police to a Tacoma home. The registered owner of the Isuzu allegedly lived at the home, and the property owners said that Kvashuk borrowed the truck.
Investigators discovered several pieces of the stolen equipment and trailers stored on the property.
When Washington State Patrol detectives talked to Kvashuk on the phone, he initially said he had brought all of the equipment.
“He later acknowledged taking the property, but again claimed it was on behalf of ‘some Mexican guy’ he could not name and had only spoken to by phone,” according to the affidavit of probable cause.
When investigators found more items on a King County property in November 2021, he again claimed the items were from “the Mexicans.”
Court documents state that he was also stopped by Cle Elum police and Washington State Patrol troopers driving the same flatbed truck.
