MARYSVILLE – The tears of relief over a little bag of baby teeth were worth all the hours of hunting and digging for a sticky-fingered crook.
“The fun part is always giving back the stuff,” Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Adam Malaby said. Michael V. Martina / The Herald
As the directed patrol deputies at the sheriff’s north precinct, Malaby and Joe Dunn root out the car thieves, drug dealers and burglars who plague residents in the north county. The deputies learn who the crooks are, where they hang out and bring them in when they’ve been up to no good.
The men often can follow up on cases that patrol deputies answering 911 calls don’t have time for.
“We do a lot of the cleanup work,” Dunn said, adding that they work closely with patrol deputies and the precinct’s property crime detectives, Bud McCurry and Dwayne Sandrin.
| Musical equipment found
The sheriffs office is looking for the owner of a Oberheim draw bar organ expander recovered in a burglary investigation. If you have any information, please contact detective Bud McCurry at 425-388-7940. Protect yourself: Police encourage residents to record all the serial numbers of their property. The numbers can help police track stolen property and return it if its recovered. |
Dunn and Malaby also find stolen property. In recent months, the deputies and detectives have been up to their necks in burglars and thefts. They’ve busted a few chop shops, finding thousands of dollars in stolen property. They’ve located a storage shed full of looted items.
Twice they’ve filled a small warehouse with stolen saws, camera gear, off-road vehicles, jewelry and other personal effects. And they found the owners.
“Our goal is to get everything back to whoever rightfully owns it,” Malaby said.
McCurry remembers the look on a mom’s face when she was handed a bag of baby teeth, which were stolen during a break-in.
“She’d kept every tooth her children had lost,” McCurry said. “She didn’t care about the jewelry we returned to her. She broke down in tears over the teeth.”
Police have seen property crimes increasing throughout the county. Most crooks aren’t picky about what they take, police said.
Personal information used in identity thefts is a hot item, McCurry said. “It’s as good as money. They’re trading it for dope, money or cars.”
Police are seeing more tools, heavy equipment, all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles being stolen. They have been seeing more vehicle thefts related to burglaries. Thieves load up property from the house into the victim’s car and dump the car later.
Most of the crooks are repeat offenders, leading the precinct, which covers 1,000 square miles, to initiate Operate Gloves Off. Since November, one week a month directed patrol and detectives focus on bringing in some of the county’s “most wanted.”
“We all dress to get dirty, go looking in the scuzziest holes we can to find these guys,” said Sgt. Anthony Aston, who supervises the unit.
Deputies see a drop in crime when the crew is searching for targets. The wanted men and women keep low profiles, as do most of their acquaintances, under the constant pressure, police said.
The directed patrol working with the detectives is an invaluable asset, Aston said. “I can’t live without these guys.”
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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