GOLD BAR — Fingerprints have led to the arrest of a Snohomish man accused of breaking into the Gold Bar Post Office during the 2014 Christmas holiday.
The suspect, 40, was arrested Thursday in Snohomish for investigation of burglary and possessing methamphetamine.
The Gold Bar Post Office was broken into twice during the Christmas holidays.
The initial burglary occurred between 5:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve when employees left for the day and 5 a.m. Dec. 26 when they returned to work. Investigators believed the first burglary happened after 11 p.m. Christmas Eve because the lock to the front door was broken. An electronic lock kicks in at 11 p.m. and police found pry marks on the door.
At least 16 post office boxes were broken into.
Sometime after closing on Dec. 29, 2014, five more boxes were looted. It also appeared that the thief tried to reach through the boxes to gain access to mail in other boxes.
Police in Gold Bar worked with the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office during the investigation. They provided the fingerprints to postal inspectors who had them analyzed in a lab. Gold Bar contracts with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office for police services.
Investigators believe the same suspect broke into the Gold Bar post office again in April. The break-in was recorded by a security camera that had been installed after the previous break-ins.
Gold Bar Police Chief David Casey received the results of the fingerprint examination Jan. 26 as well as photographs. He wrote in a police report that the security camera photos matched a description of the suspect.
Police in Snohomish arrested the man. He told Gold Bar police that he was not involved and didn’t know how his fingerprints ended up in the post office.
Gold Bar isn’t the only post office that has been hit in recent years. Thieves struck the downtown Arlington Post Office in February 2013, prying open about 20 post office boxes. The Sultan Post Office was hit the day before.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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