A Portland car thief was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison after a police officer spotted him in a stolen car and later found car-theft tools in his possession while arresting him.

A Multnomah County jury unanimously found James Steven Pasley, 42, guilty of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and possession of a stolen vehicle, both felonies, after a two-day trial.

Pasley, described as a “prolific” car thief in a statement by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, had 21 previous felony convictions, eight of them related to car theft. Prosecutors said Pasley would receive drug treatment while in custody and serve one year of post-prison supervision upon his release.

On May 1, a Portland police officer on routine patrol nearly hit a 1999 Nissan Sentra that Pasley was driving after Pasley ran a stop sign near Southeast 112th Avenue and Clinton Street, prosecutors said. The officer said he searched the car’s license plate in a database and found it had been reported stolen days earlier.

The officer followed Pasley and arrested him on foot as he was leaving an apartment complex parking lot nearby. Prosecutors said he had in his pocket a flathead screwdriver and four “jiggle keys” — keys for different models of cars intended to defeat locks and ignitions.

The keys were bent into a twist, indicating they had been used in keyholes they didn’t fit and that considerable force was used to turn the lock, prosecutors said.

The Nissan Sentra’s ignition was damaged from the theft, in which prosecutors said Pasley used a screwdriver to start the car. Police were able to start the car with the screwdriver he was carrying at the time of his arrest.

“In many cases, once a car is stolen, the thief will cause significant damage to the vehicle’s ignition in an attempt to get it started,” Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Michael Lee, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement. "Getting the parts replaced is extremely costly and in some cases cost prohibitive for the victim. In this case, the car’s owner had to drive her car using a separate screwdriver because of the damage caused by the defendant.”

The District Attorney’s Office said vehicle immobilizers and steering wheel locks can thwart similar car thefts.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com; 503-294-5034; @enjus

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