One arrested during raid near Lake Stevens

Published 11:47 pm Wednesday, February 25, 2009

MACHIAS — Three surveillance cameras stood watch Wednesday morning outside a trailer parked amidst an illegal junkyard.

Washington State Patrol trooper Keith Leary shook his head as he looked over at the cameras, the dismantled vehicles and the piles of broken car parts stacked behind a rural home east of Lake Stevens.

“It’s not normal,” he said.

Two teams of heavily armed police raided the property just before 10 a.m. in the 13300 block of Fourth Place SE.

“Police! Search warrant! Open the door!” a few of them shouted as they barged into a home, a fifth-wheel trailer and several garages and outbuildings on the five-acre property. Before police left, one person was arrested.

A tip led state troopers to suspect that the property was being used as a chop shop, a place where stolen cars and motorcycles are broken up into parts for sale.

Chop shops often are clearinghouses for all types of criminal activity, Leary said.

On Wednesday, officials were looking for a man wanted on theft charges. He wasn’t home when police arrived, but officers found evidence of illegal activity, Leary said.

In the fifth-wheel trailer where police believe the man lived, officers found a loaded sawed-off shotgun and a bong police believe was used to smoke methamphetamine.

Officials found a stolen license plate, recovered a stolen motorcycle and tracked down other illegally taken goods. They learned that one of the surveillance cameras was stolen from a Microsoft campus in Redmond.

There are more than 200 wrecking yards in Snohomish County, Leary said. Business owners are required to obtain a $25 permit and follow county codes. That helps to ensure properties don’t become unsightly or poison the environment.

“It’s not a legitimate operation,” he said.

The rusted remnants of vehicles were scattered about: a skeleton of a chassis, a pile of car doors, old tires, a box of keys.

Three dogs barked at the officers combing the grounds.

Illegal wrecking yards, which fall under the State Patrol’s jurisdiction, are eyesores and bring down property values, Leary said.

People can help police by reporting suspicious activity to police and by being smart consumers.

Chop shops often rely on Internet sites to sell their goods, Leary said.

“If you’re going online to search for parts — and not buying from a dealer — you run the chance that it’s stolen,” he said.

As detectives investigated the property, the man police were looking for pulled up and was placed in handcuffs.

The man, 39, was expected to be booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of driving with a suspended license and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Other allegations will likely be added, Leary said.

“We accomplished what we set out to do today,” he said.