Two suspects in burglary of Edmonds home are nabbed

Published 1:30 am Sunday, April 15, 2018

EDMONDS — A spare tire and out-of-state license plates led police to a burglary suspect, who is accused of smashing his way into an Edmonds home.

Home security cameras showed the man rolling up around 10 a.m. Tuesday to a house off 162nd Street SW, in a white Hyundai Sonata with a spare “donut” tire and Arizona plates.

A man with a chinstrap beard knocked on the front door, then went around back and used a rock to break the glass to get in. He escaped with arms full of property, as the alarm went off. Police posted the video and a picture of the car on social media Wednesday. They got a tip from someone at a Days Inn on Everett Mall Way, pointing them to the car. Officers kept watch on the distinctive Sonata until a man entered it. He was stopped and identified as the registered owner. He told police he’d let his friend, a 22-year-old Camano Island man, borrow it Tuesday.

Officers found the friend in the hotel. He had a Department of Corrections warrant out for his arrest. He admitted he’d driven a third man, 24, to the house for the break-in, according to police reports filed in court.

Police found the third man, a Marysville resident, in south Everett. He reportedly told police he owed the driver a few hundred dollars for drugs, and they chose a house at random to steal from. He broke in, but couldn’t find the driver when he left, he said, so he tossed the stolen property on the roadside, according to the police reports.

Both suspects were booked into Snohomish County Jail for investigation of residential burglary. In court papers, police wrote that they had concerns about the pair being released.

“Convicted felon,” an officer wrote about the suspected driver. “Violated parole, arrested on escape warrant, burglarized residence, will re-offend again without any doubt.”

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.