INSIDE

Crime spree ends in juvenile’s arrest

By Meg Olson

Local Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a local teen they believe is responsible for a sweeping rash of burglaries and boat thefts.

“We believe we had in the neighborhood of 20 burglaries in the Maple Beach area in the first two weeks of October,” said local Whatcom County Sheriff’s Deputy Rich Emmons. Emmons said they had confirmed and documented 10 of the burglaries and were working on other properties that appeared to have been burglarized. “Numerous other properties, vacant at this time of year, had broken windows, smudge prints,” added his partner, deputy Jeff Turner.

On October 13 they arrested a 16-year-old male following a theft from a boat at the marina, and recovered $26,000 in stolen property subsequent to that arrest. In addition to the growing list of residential burglaries the youth is also expected to be charged with stealing three boats from the local marina, as well as two from Delta and one from Sydney, B.C. Turner said many of the vessels were taken out to sea, stripped and set adrift. “They cut them loose in zero visibility and left them out there for the coast guard to pick up,” he said. One of the B.C. vessels, a $48,000 power-boat, was recovered in the Point Roberts marina.

The marina and Maple Beach are mostly seasonal areas, which deputies said means some crimes may not come to light until property and boat owners return in the spring. “At this time we don’t know of any vessels unaccounted for,” Turner said, but it is not always possible to determine whether the boat owner has taken the boat out, or if someone else has. Even when they have evidence a crime may have occurred, it can take more time to find the victim than it does to arrest a suspect. “This time of year we end up using detective work to find the victims,” Emmons said.

Of the documented burglaries Turner said they had recovered 95 percent of stolen property and the investigation is ongoing. So far deputies are asking the county prosecutor to charge the individual in custody with numerous counts of residential burglary, possession of stolen property, vehicle prowl and malicious mischief. “More charges will be added,” Turner predicted. “We’re probably looking at double digits in felonies.” Emmons added their investigation was ongoing and other arrests were likely. “We have forwarded warrants to the prosecutor for other individuals,” he said.

The recent rash of burglaries has a familiar ring to the current local deputies and their predecessors – juvenile offenders, targeting seasonal properties. “We have always had them sporadically in Point Roberts – they come in clumps and we usually find out who the juveniles are,” said county sheriff Bill Elfo. Sometimes the offenders are local teens but often they cross the border from Canada, making it more difficult for deputies to resolve the case. “We have a continuing problem where the deputies will actually catch them and the border patrol will not respond,” Elfo said.

Turner said that while the recent rash of thefts was bigger than previously, it was the second such string this year, with different offenders in each case. “So far we haven’t had any crimes here that have been really difficult to solve,” he said. Emmons added there are usually witnesses and in a small community, word gets around. “We get a little piece of the story from everybody and then we collect the evidence to link them,” he said.

Elfo said the problem of teens targeting cabins wasn’t unique to the Point. “We have this type of problems with seasonal places all over the county,” he said. Emmons and Turner said they were hoping to work with the marina and local neighborhood organizations to increase security.

“I’d like to see some neighborhood watch programs,” Turner said. “There are people who live down there year round.” Emmons said property owners could go a long way to ward off thieves. “Lock your doors and windows for starters,” he said. “Installing motion sensor lights and keeping vegetation trimmed will also make the property less attractive to a burglar,” he said.

For boat owners, Turner’s top suggestion was not to leave keys in the ignition. “That’s the number one reason boats go missing here,” he said. “Just because it’s a locked facility doesn’t mean it’s not accessible.” For their part the marina is also looking at improving security, from swapping lockset on docks to reviewing security staffing. “We don’t want people to know when our staffing is. It’ll vary,” said new manager Forrest Rambo, who has been with the marina for eight weeks, coming from a public relations background. He also encourages tenants to cooperate to keep their property safe. “When folks are down visiting and they see someone they don’t recognize, ask questions,” he said. “Think of little things like not propping the gate open. People need to look out for their own interests as well as those of their neighbors.”
Turner said that a change in attitude was the core solution to the problem. “It’s about getting rid of the ‘it’s Point Roberts it won’t happen to me’ attitude,” he said. “It will eventually.”