Police believe they’ve busted a group of notorious Snohomish County criminals who may be responsible for at least 140 burglaries at businesses around Puget Sound.
“This is what they considered their career,” Marysville police detective Dan Vinson said. “They would go out at least nightly.”
The group’s resume includes dozens of felonies. One man escaped from an inmate work crew; another stole a car at 13; and a third is considered a suspect in a July 1985 killing of a young Lake Roesiger woman. They all show a history of earning a living through a life of crime.
During the latest spree of burglaries, police from nearly 30 law enforcement agencies worked together to build a case against the gang.
As early as January, police detectives began to recognize a distinctive crime pattern. Commercial buildings were being broken into by crooks who used a pry-bar to bust through drywall, Vinson said. The burglars showed a sophisticated knowledge of security systems and how to skirt them. The prize typically was a business safe.
The burglars were drawn to fast-food taco restaurants. They reportedly bragged about the lax security. The group is believed to also have broken into a senior center in West Seattle. Every night they went to work, scoping out their next target or sneaking in and going for the cash. They wore gloves and masks and brought along tools.
In Everett, police say one of the men broke into a pub and stole a safe filled with $4,500. At a Lake Stevens grocery, video surveillance captured three men crawling across the floor to sneak a safe out of a hole they cut in a wall. More than $4,000 was taken.
Then, in March, a woman gave detectives a big clue.
She told police she’d overheard a friend, Byron J. Bowman, a 44-year-old felon known as “Bam,” bragging about the break-ins, according to a police affidavit filed Monday in Everett District Court.
The informant told police Bam said he had seen TV news coverage of one of his break-ins and recognized his image captured in grainy surveillance footage.
“They are trying to make me famous,” Bowman allegedly said.
The informant told police that Bowman and his pal, James M. Densmore, 49, were busy working from Puyallup to Mt. Vernon. She said the men took ferries across Puget Sound to Bremerton for jobs, the court papers said.
When detectives showed her surveillance camera footage from a Feb. 17 break-in at Jay’s Market in Lake Stevens, the woman identified a third suspect, Tyler B. Bowman, 22, Bam’s son.
She told police the men joked that they were employed as burglars. After a successful job she said they celebrated at casinos, according to court papers.
Police used the suspect information to build their cases. A loosely knit task force met weekly, including police from Arlington, Marysville, Lake Stevens, Everett and Seattle, plus deputies from Snohomish, King, Pierce and Skagit counties.
Detectives began to watch the men, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
Early Sunday morning, police raided the home where the men were staying. The suspects were brought to a familiar place — jail.
Byron Bowman has racked up at least a dozen felony convictions over the years, primarily for breaking into homes and businesses. His most recent felony conviction was in 2006 for methamphetamine possession.
In 1991 he was named as both a witness and a suspect in the shooting death of Tira Snyder, 19. Detectives speculated that Snyder was killed by a burglar whom she surprised in her Lake Roesiger home.
Bowman’s cousin Lyal Bogart also was named as a suspect in the case. He agreed to tell detectives what he knew about the homicide as part of a plea agreement in a string of burglary convictions. Bogart denied being involved in the shooting. After nearly two decades behind bars, he was released from prison in May.
Police have never made an arrest in the 1985 slaying.
“They haven’t been ruled out” as suspects, Snohomish County sheriff’s detective Jim Scharf said of Byron Bowman and Bogart. “We’re still interested in hearing from anyone who knows anything about that case. I think someone out there has good information.”
Tyler Bowman began working on a rap sheet from an early age. He was arrested at 13 when police found him driving a stolen Jeep. He was arrested again after he was spotted driving a stolen Honda and was later caught breaking into the Everett Police Department’s impound lot. He was allowed to enter drug court but was kicked out for numerous violations, according to court documents.
Densmore also has numerous burglary convictions. He told authorities in 2005 that he broke into businesses to get money to pay for his drug addiction and to support his wife and kids, according to court records.
All three men have been charged in Everett District Court with the Jay’s Market burglary. Densmore and Tyler Bowman are being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Byron Bowman also faces a burglary charge in a St. Patrick’s Day burglary at Toby Magee’s Pub in south Everett. A judge ordered him held in lieu of $600,000 bail.
Police are still looking for additional suspects.
“This was a success due in part to the cooperation of all of these agencies,” said Jeff Lambier, a detective with Lake Stevens police. “I’m very happy and very pleased.”
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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