Cat-napping thief gets 9 months
Published 11:06 pm Friday, September 26, 2008
MONROE — Allen Pierce was the one in the photograph asleep on a collapsed hammock.
His shoes were kicked off and he was curled up in a ball when the police officer took his picture. It was his buddy, Kyle Burress, who had his mouth open, snoozing on a pile of pink pillows.
Pierce, 27, admitted Monday he was one of the cat-napping burglars police found in July, sleeping like babies on loot pilfered from a Monroe department store. Monroe police took pictures of the men before hauling them off to jail.
“I saw the picture in The Herald. Did you see your picture? Did you know you were on video camera at the store?” Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Gerald Knight asked Pierce. “I don’t know if you want to be a criminal or a movie star.”
Knight on Friday sentenced Pierce to nine months in jail for second-degree burglary.
Pierce said he had seen his picture. He told the judge what he’d done was stupid. Now, he just wants to serve his time, get out of jail and be with his son, Pierce said.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Coleen St. Clair recommended the nine-month sentence, the low end of the standard range. Pierce is building a lengthy rap sheet, but maybe the embarrassment of having his picture splashed all over will deter him from committing future crimes, she said.
Pierce of Monroe also will be expected to pay back the store for the damaged and stolen property from the July 9 crime.
Burress also pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
The store manager was opening up for the day around 6 a.m. when he noticed that someone had cut the padlocks from four large storage containers behind the store. Someone had pawed through the merchandise.
They also left behind a trail.
Pillows, empty cardboard boxes, backpacks, Presto logs and outdoor fire pits led to a grassy area out of sight about 200 feet away.
That’s where the officer found Pierce and Burress.
Truth is, the men never had much of a shot at denying they were the ones who broke into the storage containers. They were caught on videotape.
And then there are the pictures.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
