MOSES LAKE — A 57-year-old Moses Lake resident, Ivan Puyu, was arrested Aug. 17 after allegedly damaging and stealing two canal liners near the recent irrigation canal breach site according to a press release from Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Irrigation canal liners are typically large tarps.

A U.S. Bureau of Reclamation employee spotted Puyu around 2 p.m., using a reciprocating saw to cut apart the liners stored on an East Columbia Basin Irrigation District flatbed trailer. Puyu loaded the damaged liners onto a trailer towed by his vehicle. The USBR employee contacted the irrigation district watermaster, who immediately went to the site and confronted Puyu. Puyu attempted to return the damaged liners to the original trailer, but Moses Lake Police arrived, detaining him before the Sheriff’s Deputies arrived. The cooperating agencies were MACC 911, Moses Lake Police, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Ranger and GCSO.

Puyu claimed he was searching for suitable underlayment for his children's playground equipment when he noticed the liners and assumed they were discarded. After retrieving his trailer and a reciprocating saw, Puyu returned to the site, cut the liners into smaller pieces, and loaded them onto his trailer.

Puyu was held in the Grant County Jail, but was no longer in custody as of Thursday. He is facing charges of second-degree theft and second-degree malicious mischief. 

The irrigation district estimates the replacement cost for the two damaged 60’ x 36’ liners to be nearly $3,000. The liners were stored on a trailer in an open dirt lot in the 5000 block of Road O-NE, used as a staging area for equipment involved in the irrigation canal's reconstruction.