All persons in the police blotter are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
COUNTERFEIT: At 7 p.m. July 26, a Target employee turned in a counterfeit $5 bill to a Bonney Lake officer picking up evidence for an unrelated case. Another employee had discovered the bill several weeks earlier while calculating sales totals for the day. The officer placed the bill into a locker at the station.
BREAK-IN: At 9 a.m. July 28, a woman reported a theft from her car parked near the Ben Franklin craft store. While working in a nearby espresso stand, she was informed by a customer that a car parked outside had a broken window. She found her window smashed in, apparently by a large rock sitting inside the vehicle. The only item reported missing was a gym bag containing affects of little or no value. As the vehicle had been moved since the theft, the officer photographed the area where it had been parked during the break-in and the vehicle itself. The photos were placed into evidence.
MIP: At 6:35 p.m. July 28, two officers responded to McGhee Drive East to check on the welfare of a 14-year-old male who was “out of it or sleeping,” according to a caller. Police found the boy laying on a set of steps in a home’s yard. After confirming he was still breathing, an officer shook his foot to rouse him. His eyes were bloodshot and he appeared dazed. While questioning where the boy had come from and how much he had slept, the officer smelled a faint odor of alcohol on his breath. He asked the boy how much he had to drink, and the boy said he had four shots of vodka in Allan Yorke Park. The boy stood up and began to vomit, but refused medical aid. Police contacted the boy’s mother, who urged him to cooperate with a breath test. The breath sample read above the legal limit for minors. Police advised the mother that the report and requested charges for minor in possession would be forwarded to Remann Hall.
SHOPLIFT: At 4:42 p.m. July 31, an officer was dispatched to the state Route 410 liquor store to take a report on a shoplifting incident that had occurred 10 days prior. An employee said two suspects driving a blue Dodge Caravan had come in the store July 21. One of the suspects was wheelchair bound. A third person may have been present to distract the worker on duty. Video of the incident showed the male suspect pushing the female subject in her wheelchair before they separated. The woman selected three bottles of Crown Royal whisky and placed them under herself in the wheelchair. They then exited the store without making a purchase. Staff did not call on the day of the incident because the loss was not more than $600, however the employee decided to call because the suspects had attempted to come into the store again.
BURGLARY: At 6:23 p.m. July 31, an officer was dispatched to take a burglary report at Lake Tapps Christian Church on Myers Road. The reporting parties said a chained shed on the property had been broken into. A gas can, chained to the ground, had been taken. The callers had last seen the shed secured the evening of July 28.
GROW OP: On August 2, a tipster reported to police she believed a 75th Street East home was being used as a grow house. The occupants of the town home had recently cut a hole in the exterior wall of its garage and installed a dryer vent. An odor of marijuana could be smelled from the vent. The officer taking the report explained that recent changes to medicinal marijuana laws could limit law enforcement’s ability to take action, but that civil action could also be pursued if the operation created code enforcement issues or if it violated neighborhood bylaws. At 2:32 p.m., the officer drove by the address to attempt to verify if the vent was visible from the driveway. It was, and the scent of possibly under-watered or drying marijuana was apparent while the patrol car’s windows were rolled down. The officer contacted a male occupant of the residence at the front door and told him about the smell. He appeared nervous but agreed to speak outside; with the man’s cooperation, a legal loaded firearm was removed from his person without incident, unloaded and temporarily confiscated until contact was complete. The man had current paperwork allowing him to possess and grow medicinal marijuana. The officer informed the man dispensaries and collective gardens — grows set up for distribution to multiple patients — were not allowed in the city of Bonney Lake. But due to recent new laws, the officer was not interested in making an arrest or seizing property at that time, only in viewing the operation to document it and have city personnel help determine how to proceed. The man asked to contact someone by phone and, after a brief call, said he would not give permission for police to enter the residence. He was briefly detained in handcuffs while a call could be placed to the city attorney. The attorney advised the officer to release the man and forward the case information for possible future charges.
ARSON: At 4 a.m. August 3, an officer was dispatched to Bonney Lake Boulevard East, where a caller reported a mailbox had been destroyed by an explosive. The caller had heard the blast from his porch and ran up the street to find a neighbor’s mailbox destroyed. He observed a small red two-door car driving westbound from the scene. The officer contacted the homeowner, who said he had been asleep when he was awakened by the blast. Pieces of the mailbox were found at least 150 feet away from the site of the explosion. The odor of gunpowder was apparent in the air. An area check did not yield the suspect vehicle.
DUI: At 2:39 a.m. August 4, an officer on patrol observed a blue pickup truck drift between lanes on state Route 410 as it passed through the 198th Avenue East intersection. It continued to drift toward the center barrier, then back to the right. The officer pursued and initiated a stop after observing the car activate its turn signal late and drift over the highway fog line. The driver smelled of intoxicants and said he had alcohol with dinner. He stumbled as he exited the car. He refused to submit to voluntary field sobriety tests and was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence. At the station, the driver consulted with an attorney before agreeing to take a breath test without answering further questions. He was cited for DUI and issued notices of infraction for improper lane travel and failure to provide proof of insurance.
STALKING: On August 4, a woman reported she was being stalked. The caller, an employee of a state Route 410 business, said she had received a letter from an unknown person. The letter referenced seeing the woman and her daughter during a recent trip to Allan Yorke Park and proclaimed love for the woman. It did not contain any direct threats, but demonstrated at least some knowledge of the woman’s routine. The envelope, addressed to her workplace, did not have a return address and was stamped at an Olympia mailing station. The woman said she had been approached or asked for her number by customers in the past, but she did not suspect a particular person. The officer provided some tips for the woman to safeguard her welfare in the near future, and advised her to contact police about any further attempted communications or suspicious circumstances. The letter and envelope were submitted into evidence.
RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT: At 1:30 p.m. August 6, a caller reported damage to his commercial truck. An employee was driving the truck over the Angeline Road overpass of state Route 410 when a rock came through the windshield and hit him in the shoulder. The rock was more than three inches in diameter and came through with such force that the man initially believed he had been shot. He was not sure where the rock came from but believed he saw it come over the guardrail on the side of the roadway.
SUSPICIOUS: At 9:16 p.m. August 6, two officers were dispatched to 192nd Avenue East, where a homeowner had detained a man found wandering in his backyard. The homeowner said he and his family had just returned home when they found the man. He gave chase down the street and eventually got the man to stop running. The man explained he was running from drug dealers to whom he owed money. During their exchange, a light green Kia Sport containing a white male and a possibly Samoan male drove up to the scene. The Samoan male said the running man was their friend and they wanted to talk with him. The homeowner told them the police were on their way. The Samoan male appeared upset, but the car left the area and drove toward the highway. The license plate was registered to a Buckley man and officers contacted Buckley Police to follow up. Police arranged for an associate of the running man to pick him up nearby. The running man told police he owed the alleged drug dealers $150 for heroin. He had not been assaulted, but he believed he was going to be. The man was found to have unused heroin paraphernalia, but no drugs on his person.
