LAKE STEVENS — One of the advantages of having a North County Property Crimes unit is it gets detectives from different police departments comparing notes among themselves and with other officers.
Such was the case that led to the recent arrest of a serial burglary suspect. The 41-year-old man is accused of committing crimes in and just outside of Lake Stevens, Marysville and south Snohomish County.
The Everett man, who is listed as a transient in court papers, was arrested on the morning of April 21. He remains in the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of five counts of burglary, drug possession and a parole violation.
“There are more (counts) coming down the pike,” said Marysville police Sgt. James Maples, who heads up the multi-agency property crimes unit.
On April 21, the man was accompanied by a woman when he was suspected of breaking into a home off North Davies Road in Lake Stevens. A man who was in the home called 911.
That same morning, another house was hit in the Lochsloy community outside of Lake Stevens. The loot included a generator and welding equipment as well as sentimental items, including harmonicas, journals, a funeral service sign-in book and three years’ worth of photos inside a stolen camera.
Within an hour of the North Davies Road burglary, a sheriff’s patrol deputy spotted the suspect’s car in Granite Falls. He tried to pull it over, but the driver hopped out while the car was still in gear and moving.
While the deputy chased him down, the female passenger moved into the driver’s seat and fled. The car was later abandoned. She has not been identified.
A search warrant of the car turned up evidence of break-ins out of multiple jurisdictions.
Maples said the ability of property crimes detectives from different agencies to work together is paying off.
“It’s the expediency we have to connect cases instantaneously verses over days and weeks,” he said.
As of Thursday, the property crimes unit had received 835 cases to review since Jan. 1. It has obtained 27 search warrants, recovered $273,000 worth of stolen property and made 181 arrests that could result in 320 charges.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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