EVERETT — A Chehalis man is in hot water, accused of stealing nearly $20,000 in expensive sink faucets from home improvement stores in Snohomish County.

Joseph Tyler Littlefield, 20, is believed responsible for at least 17 separate thefts of high-end sink faucets from Lowe’s stores in Everett, Lynnwood, Mill Creek and Smokey Point, according to Snohomish County Superior Court papers.

Littlefield was arrested in February 2011, reportedly trying to steal faucets from the Smokey Point store.

A photo of Littlefield after his arrest was compared with images captured on the surveillance video at the stores.

“There is video from all the incidents where it appears to be the same individual committing the 16 different thefts,” deputy prosecutor Toni Montogomery said in court papers filed Monday.

The video shows a man entering the stores with his hands empty and leaving with apparently stolen merchandise, according to an Arlington Police Department case report that was filed in support of a first-degree theft charge.

Other similar thefts were reported at stores in King and Pierce counties. They were believed to be the work of thieves working as a team.

During one case, Issaquah police identified two of Littlefield’s associates as they attempted to return stolen sink faucets in exchange for merchant gift cards, court papers say.

The thefts occurred starting in August 2010. Littlefield was under 18 at the time of his Smokey Point arrest. Although court papers don’t address the timing of the new theft charge,

he has been in trouble with the law pretty much continuously since fall of 2005.

As a juvenile offender, Littlefield racked up eight felony convictions. Earlier this year, he was convicted as an adult of felony burglary and assault charges in Pierce County, and sentenced to nearly two years in prison.

Scott North: 425-339-3431, north@heraldnet.com