A sex offender with a stun gun was arrested during a vehicle theft investigation in Sausalito.
The investigation started at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday after a Mercedes AMG E630 was reported stolen on South Street, the police department said.
Police found the car about an hour later on Central Avenue. It was unoccupied. Police discovered that the car thief had taken the victim’s jewelry and electronics from inside, said Lt. Bill Fraass.
Police obtained footage of a possible suspect from a private surveillance camera nearby. The footage showed a man leaving in a Ford van.
Police used the city’s license plate reading camera system to obtain the van’s plate number. Police identified the registered owner as Myles Alec Gipson, 60, a transient from San Mateo County.
Police matched Gipson’s photo in Department of Motor Vehicles records to the images of the man in the surveillance footage, Fraass said. Police also learned that Gipson is a registered sex offender who is also on probation in San Mateo County for possession of stolen property.
Late that night, a patrol officer spotted Gipson driving the van in the south end of the city. The officer stopped the van and searched it. The van contained property stolen from the Mercedes and potentially elsewhere, a stun gun, drug paraphernalia and suspected burglary tools, Fraass said.
Police booked Gipson into the Marin County Jail. The Marin County District Attorney’s Office filed charges on Tuesday.
Gipson is being held without a bail amount set.
Gipson’s criminal history includes a 2001 conviction for lewd acts with a child younger than 14, according to the California Department of Justice.
