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Police Pursuit Suspect's Sweet Tooth Helps Land Him In Jail

HEMET (CBSLA.com) — A box of Girl Scout cookies helped send a suspect in a wild police chase to jail in Hemet.

If you've got $5, the Girl Scouts have nine sweet reasons to fork over the cash. It's cookie season.

If you're addicted to Thin Mints or Lemonades, then you know how important it is to have your cookie dealer's contact information.

That's why 9-year-old Grace puts a note with her dad's mobile phone number on each box so her customers know where to get their next cookie fix.

Grace's dad said Joseph Kopff, 31, bought a box of Thin Mints and Carmel cookies on Thursday for $10 and drove away on his motorcycle.

Hemet police said they later tried to stop Kopff for running a red light in the 1300 block of east Florida Avenue. But he took off and tossed a box of cookies in the bushes.

Investigators retrieved the box and found Grace's note along with her father's contact information.

When detectives got in touch with him, they learned that he is a deputy who helped identify Kopff  hiding at a mobile home park on North State Street in Hemet.

"I think it's pretty amazing. It's pretty awesome," a family friend said. "I think it's kind of silly that he threw the boxes. Everybody wants Girl Scout cookies. But it got him busted."

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