By Pat Jenkins
The Dispatch
Lying did a suspect no good after he was caught red-handed with a stolen car and burglarizing a Spanaway home.
First he told police he had permission to be inside the residence. Stolen items that were in a car he was using said otherwise. He also tried unsuccessfully to convince officers that the car was loaned to him.
Here’s an account from the Pierce County Sheriff Department of how the thief was caught and the way he tried to talk himself out of trouble:
Shortly before 12 noon on Oct. 27, a woman returning from work to her home on 260th Street East noticed the gate to her driveway and the garage door, which she left open when she left, were now closed. When she opened her garage door, she found a car parked inside that didn’t belong to her or her husband. Suddenly an unidentified man wearing latex gloves exited the woman's house and, when asked by the woman what he was doing there, said he was looking for his “cousin.”
The homeowner got back in her car and called 9-1-1 as she drove to a nearby relative's house. She told dispatchers that the suspect was in her house and that there were unsecured firearms inside.
Two deputies who were nearby quickly arrived at the house, saw the suspect closing the garage door from inside, and yelled at him to reopen it and surrender – which he did, and they handcuffed him at gunpoint.
The suspect claimed he had permission to be on the property, but he couldn’t provide the name of who gave him permission or the names of the homeowners. He eventually admitted he entered the house and was in the act of burglarizing it.
The car the suspect parked in the garage was reported stolen earlier that morning from another residence on 32nd Avenue in Spanaway. The suspect denied stealing it and said he got it from his uncle, whose name also escaped him.
Deputies searched the car and found three rifles, a large fishing knife, a chainsaw, and boxes full of bottles of wine and spirits, all of which belonged to the owners of the burglarized home. The alcohol was left over from their recent wedding.
The 23-year-old suspect was booked into Pierce County Jail on suspicion of burglary, auto theft and unlawful possession of a firearm.
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