LYNNWOOD — Good old-fashioned police work and a resourceful dog owner nabbed a pair of crooks believed to be responsible for as many as 10 apartment burglaries.
Lynnwood detectives arrested an Everett man, 19 and a Mountlake Terrace woman, 20, Friday after they caught the duo trying to break into an apartment at Alderwood Heights for a second time, Sgt. Sean Doty said.
"He would take whatever he could fit in a duffel bag, and he was doing it in broad daylight," Doty said.
It appears that the couple would select apartments hidden from view and roll the dice that no one was inside, Doty said.
The man would knock on a door and if the resident answered he’d say he was looking for someone. If no one answered, he’d pry open a door and stuff what he could in a large bag, Doty said.
The woman likely was his lookout, communicating with her boyfriend by two-way radio, Doty said.
The pair stole a large number of laptop computers, cameras, video game players, computers, clothing, videos and other household items, Doty said.
Police caught up with the suspected burglars after Detective Doug Teachworth and burglary victim Jeff Morin were able to link the suspects to stolen merchandise sold at a game store and several pawnshops.
Teachworth was investigating two burglary cases at an apartment complex when he came across Morin, who said he had found his stolen PlayStation games at a nearby game store that trades and buys used video games.
"We saw my son’s game controllers, and I spotted one of our games on the shelf. I knew it was ours right away because it had my dog’s hair all over it," Morin said.
Morin had the clerk pull down the controller, telling him in advance it would be covered in white dog hair.
"We have an 11Z\x-year-old Dalmatian, Pongo," Morin said. "I guess you could say the hair gave him away."
The Everett man left his name at the store, giving Teachworth a suspect. The detective scoured several pawnshops and located more stolen property that had been pawned by the suspects.
Teachworth brought the items back and found a bag with a baggage claim ticket from the Caribbean World Cruise Line. The company gave him the name of the person who sailed on a cruise in 2002. Teachworth learned that person also had been burglarized.
With evidence linking the suspects to at least six burglaries, detectives placed a tracking device on the woman’s car.
Friday they followed the car to the Mill Point Apartments in Mill Creek, where the suspects attempted to burglarize an apartment.
The detectives then followed the couple to the Alderwood Heights complex, where the man tried to break into Morin’s apartment again, Teachworth said.
Police arrested the suspects at the complex. The couple told detectives there was a large amount of stolen property inside a storage locker at the woman’s apartment building in Mountlake Terrace.
Police found thousands of dollars of stolen property inside her apartment and storage unit, according to court documents. Detectives believe the two are responsible for at least 10 break-ins.
The pair apparently used the money to pay bills, Teachworth said.
The couple was booked into the Snohomish County Jail, where the man was being held on $30,000 bail. The woman had been released.
"I think the lesson here is in event a stranger knocks at your door looking for someone, call 911 or at least talk to your neighbors," Teachworth said.
Lynnwood Enterprise writer Shannon Sessions contributed to this report.
Reporter Diana Hefley:
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