STOLEN SUV RECOVERED IN YUCCA VALLEY

A Yucca Valley woman was arrested Thursday afternoon after she was found driving a stolen SUV. According to a Sheriff’s report, about noon on Tuesday, a man in the 6100 block of Desert Air Drive in Joshua Tree started his black and beige 2002 Ford Explorer to let it warm up, and then went back in the house. When he went back outside a few minutes later, the vehicle was gone. On Thursday, a friend of the registered owner saw the vehicle being driven by a woman near Balsa Avenue and Onaga Trail about 2 p.m. and called the Sheriff’s Department. The friend managed to stop the vehicle, and the woman, identified as Irina Jones, 23, got out of the Explorer and gave the keys to the owner’s friend, and then walked away. Responding deputies located Jones, who said she had bought the Explorer for $1,000, and after questioning, said she thought it might have been stolen. Irina Jones was arrested for investigation of possession of stolen property, booked at the West Valley Detention Center, with her bail set at $10,000.