Police were on the trail of a pink-haired thief

Mendocino County authorities knew they were looking for a thief with pink hair when they set out Tuesday to find a man suspected of using a tourist’s credit card to charge merchandise at six Fort Bragg-area businesses.

But it turned out to be the bland description of a black 1980s-era SUV that led investigators to their suspect, James Robert Lane, of Fort Bragg, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Bushnell said Wednesday.

That Lane’s coif was in the appropriate shade merely confirmed suspicions that it was he who allegedly charged about $700 on the credit card stolen earlier, from a visiting tourist’s wallet inside a car parked by a vacation rental house, authorities said.

It also helped that victim Scott Wennegren, of Goleta, was on the case himself, calling his credit card company and learning where his card had been used since it disappeared earlier in the day.

In fact, it was in use at a Circle K in Fort Bragg when he spoke with authorities, at one point. And though whomever used the card was gone by the time deputies arrived there, the clerk gave them a description of the man and his vehicle, Bushnell said.

Deputies driving around looking for the car - initially described as a black Chevy Blazer - found a black Ford Bronco parked on Sherwood Road at the edge of town just outside a home occupied by Lane.

Inside, they found a distinctive surf board and other items they believe were purchased with Wennegren’s card.

“The rest of it was just kind of petty stuff,” Bushnell said, “but the surfboard was a big item, and the two hundred-dollar gift cards. Then he just got munchies at Long’s, I think.”

Lane was arrested for suspected burglary, forgery, grand theft and possession of stolen property.

He remained in the county jail Wednesday, with bail of $35,000.