INDEX — Police believe they’ve arrested a busy drug dealer operating in the Index area.
The man reportedly was caught on surveillance video last month sawing through the hydraulic gate at the entrance to the Mount Index Riversites, where he lives.
The investigation led police to his home, where they allegedly found five ounces of methamphetamine, 2.3 ounces of prescription painkillers and $7,295 in cash.
He also is accused of “terrorizing residents in the area, running drugs, stealing property, etc.,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
The man’s new legal troubles started at the gate to the private community in the early hours of July 23.
The surveillance video showed a man wearing an American flag shirt wielding a gas-powered saw. The damage to the gate was estimated at nearly $14,000.
Within a week, Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies had identified the suspect as a 55-year-old Index man.
Some of his neighbors told the deputies he is “possibly organizing much of the ongoing criminal activity there,” according to the arrest report.
Deputies went to his home Aug. 4. The property was described in the police report as being “composed of various outbuildings.” The deputies took the man into custody and allegedly found a rifle in a shed, along with the saw. He is a convicted felon, as is the woman he lives with, and neither is allowed to have firearms. His most recent conviction was for drug possession.
The suspected meth, the pills and the cash were found in a safe in his bedroom.
The man was booked Aug. 4 for investigation of malicious mischief, drug trafficking, and unlawful firearm possession. He was released Aug. 14 on $70,000 bond, according to jail records.
The newspaper generally does not name suspects in criminal cases before they are charged in court.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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