On Saturday, March 27th Galesburg police responded to the Walmart parking lot for a report of a stolen SUV. The female victim told police she left her running GMC Envoy in a fire lane outside the store and went inside to purchase items and when she returned, it was gone. Security footage showed a white male subject approach the vehicle and stand near it for several minutes before entering the vehicle and driving off. More security footage showed the male subject exit a red sedan in the parking lot before taking the SUV. Police contacted the owners of the red sedan who said they picked up the male subject at the Salvation Army Store and gave him a ride to Walmart. They told police the subject mentioned he had just been arrested for driving on a suspended license in a U-haul, and was trying to get back to Peoria. Police were able to identify a male subject as 36-year old Robert K. Gibbs of Pekin through the Knox County Sheriff’s Department who had just been arrested in a U-haul. The next day, on March 28th, GPD was notified by the Peoria County Sheriff’s Department that the SUV was located along Interstate 74 and Gibbs was picked up walking along the side of the road about a half-mile away. The SUV’s keys were found on him. Gibbs was charged with Possession of a Stolen Vehicle.
