Shop worker arrested for unauthorized drive

Automobiles don’t always get the kind of service at the shop their owners think.

Even police officers can’t be sure what’s going on under the hood.

Spokane police Officer Sherilyn Redmon dropped off her van for a tuneup and oil change at a Spokane Valley dealership Friday.

But later the same day, a woman called police to report a van was following her and had passed her five times near Second Avenue and Helena Street, said police Cpl. Jon Strickland. The man driving was naked and masturbating, the woman said, and she got the license plate number.

When police ran it, they discovered the van’s owner was Redmon.

“She was so disgusted by the whole thing and so upset,” Strickland said. Redmon told police the van supposedly was being serviced at Spokane Chrysler.

At Spokane Chrysler, police found Redmon’s van and a clothed service shop employee who had taken it for a drive. After checking the mileage, police learned Redmon’s van had been driven 16 miles without her permission.

Bradley S. Keegan, 49, of Rathdrum, Idaho, was arrested for lewd conduct and felony taking a motor vehicle without permission, then booked into Spokane County Jail, Strickland said. Keegan was still behind bars Saturday night with a bail of $10,000.

“We were shocked,” said Jay Griffiths, a sales manager at Spokane Chrysler. “It’s embarrassing for the store.”

Keegan, who had worked at the dealership for about a year, was terminated early afternoon Friday, Griffiths said.

According to Strickland, when Redmon called the dealership to complain about what had happened, “the employee she talked to didn’t believe her. They thought it was a prank call. When she told the employee she was a Spokane police officer, they were even more convinced it was a prank.”

But apparently the employee came around, because one of the dealership’s owners was called, Strickland said.

The dealership agreed to give Redmon a rental car while her is detailed, she said. Spokane Chrysler also will pay the service bill.

“The only problem is that every time we get in the car, we are going to think about what happened,” Redmon said.

The officer wanted her experience the be a lesson for others: “They may want to check their vehicle more closely after service and/or write down mileage when they take it in.”