Claypool Woman Arrested After Stealing Grandma’s Car

    CLAYPOOL – A Claypool woman was arrested Thursday for stealing her grandmother’s vehicle.

    Erin Renee Briseno, 26, of 308 S. Main St., Claypool, was arrested at 7:19 p.m. Thursday for auto theft. She was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail on a $5,250 bond.

    According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office, on Aug. 1 a Claypool Police Department officer responded to an automobile theft.

    The officer talked with Mary Lasuer who said on July 28 that her granddaughter, Erin Briseno, and her boyfriend, James Grothaus, had visited at her residence. She said Briseno and Grothaus took her 2006 Buick Lacrosse without her permission or consent and then learned the two were in Des Moines, Iowa, with her vehicle.

    The Claypool officer spoke with Polk County Iowa Officer Matthew York who confirmed they had been at a residence in Des Moines and that Briseno left her infant child at that residence. The Claypool officer informed York about Lasuer’s stolen vehicle. York found Lasuer’s vehicle and it was occupied by Grothaus.

    York said Briseno had run away with Grothaus earlier in the day and was not with Grothaus at the time the vehicle was found. York impounded the vehicle.