SILVANA — The word spread like wildfire around the neighborhood.
A man already accused of stealing from them — and from the dead — was seen snooping around their homes again.
Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies on Thursday hunted down Robert Boone and arrested him at a Marysville metal recycler. They arrested him on a warrant for driving with a suspended license.
Now sheriff’s detectives are investigating him for other crimes.
Boone, 38, was charged in January with trafficking in stolen property and possession of stolen property. He is accused of stealing thousands of dollars in tools, antiques and collectibles from his neighbors.
When detectives raided his mother’s property, where Boone was living, they found urn markers stolen from an Everett mausoleum. Police believe one had contained human ashes, but the urn had been broken and the ashes were gone.
Investigators believe Boone was going to recycle the metal for cash.
People in Boone’s rural neighborhood have gathered a number of times since the rash of burglaries.
They’ve been frustrated that Boone has been able to return to the neighborhood, instead of being held in jail.
“He is a career criminal. Why does he continually get the opportunity to terrorize his neighbors?” Larry Franchimon said.
Franchimon, who lives in the neighborhood, heard his dog barking about 8 a.m. Wednesday. He found two people on his property. They said they were looking for a shortcut, Franchimon said. He didn’t buy their story and told them to leave.
He checked in with a neighbor, who showed him a picture of Boone from a newspaper clipping.
“That was him. I was 10 feet away. That was him,” Franchimon said.
Neighbors called police. A group of deputies who focus on people deemed to be the county’s most harmful criminals started looking for him, sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
After tracking him to the Marysville metal recycler, the deputies made the arrest and seized the vehicle he was in. Boone was booked into jail, posted a $100 bond and was released just after 2 a.m. Friday.
“Why is he allowed out? What concerns me is he can continue to go back to this cycle,” Franchimon said.
Boone has a long criminal history, including serving time in prison for stealing a wheelchair from a disabled woman. His mother told police her son has a “theft problem and drug problem,” according to court documents.
In February, Boone secured $3,000 in cash and put up $30,000 in collateral to make bail after he failed to appear in court the first time he was summoned for arraignment on the theft charges filed in January.
Under court rules, the state is limited in how much bail can be ordered to hold a person in jail. The presumption is that a person isn’t held in custody before a trial, Snohomish County chief criminal deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro said.
The state must show that a person likely won’t show up for court hearings or, if released, the person is likely to commit a violent crime or to intimidate a witness, she said.
“It doesn’t take away the frustration,” she said. “We don’t set the rules, though.”
Her office will look at Boone’s recent arrest to try to determine if he has violated the conditions of his release, Cavagnaro said, which could land him back in jail.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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