By his two vandalized cars, Chuck Johnston describes how burglars unscrewed lights in his yard while burglarizing his home as he and his wife were sleeping.                                Andy Bronson 
/ The Herald

By his two vandalized cars, Chuck Johnston describes how burglars unscrewed lights in his yard while burglarizing his home as he and his wife were sleeping. Andy Bronson / The Herald

Someone stole cars, valuables — and couple’s peace of mind

Longtime neighborhood resident says she can barely sleep after nighttime burglary.

EVERETT — Barb and Chuck Johnston woke up Friday, Aug. 24, to a different world.

As they slept, someone had entered their house in North Everett and rifled through their belongings.

Chuck Johnston’s wallet, along with $500, was missing. Barb Johnston’s cellphone was gone, too. So were all of their keys. The fridge was left open and everything inside spoiled, including some salmon and chicken. Someone had gone through the motorhome out back. And their two cars — a Jeep Cherokee and a Toyota Camry, the latter of which was in the garage — were nowhere to be found.

“We’ve never been involved with something like this,” Barb Johnston said.

The husband and wife have been around the neighborhood for decades. Chuck Johnston grew up just around the block and Barb would visit her grandmother at the house right next to their current place.

Occasionally, Barb said, something would go missing from their porch. But that was expected. Chuck Johnston’s a collector and there are all sorts of knickknacks on display. No one had ever entered their home.

The culprits didn’t have to break in, Barb Johnston said. With the hot summer, they were used to having several fans running and leaving the sliding glass door in back slightly ajar. The culprits were apparently careful not to wake them up. They unscrewed the motion lights and made sure not to knock anything over while inside the house. The two slept through the whole event.

The thought that someone would go through everything in their house while they slept soundly frightened Barb Johnston. She said she couldn’t sleep for two weeks.

“It’s a violation,” she said.

What followed was lots of paperwork and lots of errands. They had to get new locks, a new car, a cellphone for Barb Johnston, a driver’s license for Chuck Johnston. They had to file a police report.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Barb Johnston said.

Helping bring some levity was their 10-year-old granddaughter, whom they had been babysitting during the days. She got out a piece of paper and started making a list of all the missing items. At the bottom, the young detective concluded in big uneven handwriting, “(I’m) thinking they were teenagers.”

The Jeep was found later that day, in Sultan. A Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy questioned three people and identified a primary suspect — “the guy in the jeans,” according to the other two. When asked where he got the car, the suspect, 21, responded, “a guy in Everett gave it to me.” The deputy was able to confirm the Jeep as stolen and arrested the suspect for investigation of possessing of a stolen vehicle.

When the Johnstons got the Jeep back, it was a disaster. The winch and luggage rack had been taken off. Cheese-flavored chips were scattered all over the inside, and the fabric was torn off the ceiling. White stripes were spray painted on the outside.

Perhaps worst: Several bumper stickers had been torn off. Chuck took pride in all of the bumper stickers on the Jeep, which was featured in a Street Smarts column in The Daily Herald.

“It’s insane!” Chuck said.

Police found the Camry on Aug. 26, stuck in some bushes outside of a house in the neighborhood. It received similar treatment, having been spray painted red. Inside were more chips, as well as tampons and drug paraphernalia.

The car was already damaged a couple of months ago, Barb Johnston said. She was one of the drivers who was sideswiped on I-5 by a man allegedly driving under the influence going the wrong way in Marysville.

That incident, which killed another woman, left her rattled.

“I was just going to get it fixed and I was finally able to sleep, kind of, when we were broken into,” she said.

Barb Johnston said she wants other people to learn from their story — to lock their doors and take extra security precautions.

The Johnstons said they are making some changes at the house. They’re putting up security cameras, getting a metal shed so items outside aren’t out in the open, and they’re putting a lock on the gate leading to their garage.

But Barb Johnston said she’s unsure if she can feel at ease in her own home again. She said she finds herself locking the door twice over every time she leaves and every time she goes to sleep.

Then there’s her mother, who lives next door. She’s 92 and is experiencing memory loss.

“I’m worried for her, too,” Barb Johnston said.

The suspect posted bail of $2,500 on Sept. 21. He’s due to appear in court Oct. 4.

Last month, he finished serving a two-month jail sentence for stealing a Nissan Sentra, just down the street from the Johnstons.

Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan @heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.

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