Sheriff's deputies arrested two men on suspicion of burglary Wednesday after a neighbor called to report two suspicious men in the backyard of a home.

Jimmie Matthew Allen, 34, and Mark Alan Short, 41, were arrested in the 5200 block of North Kenney Road after deputies arrived at the home and saw two back doors open and heard noise inside the home, according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office.

Allen exited the home and was arrested. Short initially refused to exit but did so after sheriff's K-9 Ekko arrived.
Members of the Spokane County Sheriff's Office Burglary Task Force interviewed the suspects and concluded they were burglarizing the home when deputies arrived.

Task force members found evidence from the burglary at Allen's home, which is near the victim's home.
The victim homeowner responded to Allen's home and identified property stolen from her home, according to the sheriff's office.

The investigation is ongoing; more suspects are expected to be charged.

Allen and Short were booked into jail for residential burglary and Allen also faces a charge of possession of methamphetamine.
  

Coeur d'Alene police are asking for help identifying thieves who broke into storage units on North Atlas Road last month.

Employees at Coeur d'Alene Place Self Storage, 5850 N. Atlas Road., reported April 28 that several locks had been cut from storage units throughout the complex, police said today.

Survellance video shows three men in hooded sweatshirts and dark clothing walk through the proprety just before midnight. The men walked around until 4:30 a.m. and appear to cut locks with a bolt cutter on several occassions, according to police.

Employees beleive the thieves cut a chain link fence to acess the building. They discovered several RVs that had been damaged and burglarized.

A surveillence image of two of the thieves was released today.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Coeur d’Alene Police Department at (208) 769-2320.

A city water department employee led police to two burglary suspects recently when he took a cellphone photo of the license plate of a suspicious vehicle.

Lawrence Tieken saw the 1995 Ford flat-bed truck parked at a City of Spokane pump house at North Havana Street and East Wellesley Avenue last Monday, then observed a younger man and woman exit the roof access of the pump house.

Thousands of dollars in copper wire was missing from the pump house.

Tieken took photos of the culprits, but they covered their faces just in time. But he was able to photograph the truck's rear license plate.

Police identified the truck's owner, and the Patrol Anti-Crime Team identified Cody A. Cabo, 19, as an associate.

Cabo was contacted Wednesday in the 3900 block of North Market Street after citizens reported a man on drugs. He admitted to the burglary, according to court documents, and said “Hillyard girl” named Nicky told him the pump house was filled with metal and copper, which can be sold at recycling centers.

Cabo faces charges of second-degree burglary and malicious mischief.

A man arrested for burglary Tuesday night is accused of breaking into the garage of a Spokane County deputy prosecutor.

 Larry Steinmetz, who prosecutes felonies, arrive at his home April 30 about 4:30 p.m. to find a man inside his garage. The man identified himself as Chance before fleeing the scene, according to Spokane Police.

Steinmetz identified Chance K. Occhipinti, 42, (pictured) in a photo montage Monday, and the Spokane police Patrol Anti-Crime Team arrested the suspect Tuesday near East Jackson Avenue and North Hamilton Street for second-degree burglary.

He briefly struggled with officers before he was arrested, police say. Officers found bolt cutters and other burglary-related items in his backpack. He also had a methamphetamine pipe with him, police say.

Occhipinti then wrote a letter of apology to Stenimetz that included details from the burglary, according to court documents.

Occhipinti has eight felony convictions including for drugs, burglary and theft-related crimes.

Two suspected burglars were arrested at a Spokane Valley home Monday after a neighbor called 911 because she didn't recognize them.

Steven Edward Cunningham, 56, and Jasmine Owens, 37, were contacted inside a home in the area of 7100 E. 3rd Ave. Deputies saw a circuit break box torn apart and copper wire lying on the floor.

Cunningham said the homeowner told him he could take the box and use it in his home, but he gave four names for the homeowner when asked, according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office. Deputy Matt Gould called the homeowner and confirmed the pair did not have permission to be in the home.

A neighbor had already called the homeowner to report the suspicious people. The homeowner instructed the neighbor to call 911.

Cunningham and Owens were arrested for residential burglary.

Reports of two burglars escaping in a 2004 Volkswagen Jetta led sheriff's deputies to arrest three people recently, including a convicted sex offender. 

Deputies located the Jetta parked outside a North Division Street pawn shop shortly after the burglary was reported Sunday in the 7800 block of North Hughes Drive in unincorporated Spokane County, accoridng to the Sheriff's Office.

They stopped the car and identified the driver as Pete Huckaby, 40, who was with Chelsey Loe, 39. Both suspects are accused of trying to sell items stolen in the burglary at the pawn shop.

The duo led deputies to the area of 50 E. Crown Ave., where Joshua Clint Epperson, 32, (pictured) a level was arrested for his alleged role in the burglary.

Sheriff's officials describe Epperson as a “well-known local criminal suspect listed as a repeat offender.”

Court records show he was convicted of third-degree rape of a child in 2003. He also has conviction for indecent liberties.

Detectives served a search warrant at the Crown Avenue home and recovered thousands of dollars in property stolen in the burglary that was returned to the owner. Property suspeced to have been stolen in other burglaries also was recovered, according to the sheriff's office.

Huckaby faces charges of residential burglary and first-degree trafficking in stolen property. Epperson faces charges of residential burglary and second-degree escape and Loe faces a charge of second-degree trafficking in stolen property.

A burglary suspect was arrested Tuesday after a sheriff's detective recognized him at a Spokane pawn shop.

Detective Justin Elliot was at Goldbay at 1505 N. ash St., when he saw Christopher J. Steinbaugh enter the store and receive $115 from the owner.

Elliot recognized Steinbaugh as a suspect in a burglary being investigated by Deputy Eric Epperson. The shop's owner told Elliot that Steinbaugh had sold jewelry at the store the previous day and had come back in to receive the rest of his payment.

Elliot followed Steinbaugh from the store and called Epperson, who confirmed Steinbaugh still was wanted for burglary. Elliot also learned Steinbaugh's license was suspended. Deputies responded and arrested Steinbaugh near a home at 1211 N. Oak St.

Elliot returned to Goldbay and seized the items Steinbaugh  had sold there as possible evidence of burglary and stolen property trafficking.

The Ford Explorer Steinbaugh was driving had a stolen license plate.

Deputies responded to the Oak Street home that was associated with Steinbaugh. There, they arrested Brian R. Vavra, 35, on suspicion of threats to kill and discovered a money clip on him that matched a clip Steinbaugh had sold at Goldbay.

That led deputies to obtain a search warrant for the residence. A 7-year-old girl was taken into protective custody by CPS.  Deputies also seized suspected stolen property.

Steinbaugh, who has previous felony convictions for identity theft, was booked into jail on a residential burglary charge. He could face more charges. He was arrested in March for meth possession after a police chaase.

Investigators arrested seven people while searching three locations last week connected to suspected serial burglar Dean M. Blackford.

The properties at 1928 W. Glass Ave., 12607 N. Freya, and 7722 N. Altamontwere identified after detectives talked to Blackford about his burglary ring.

Large amounts of stolen property, from motorcycles to guns to Oxy-Acetylene tanks were located. Detectives seized more than 3 1/2 ounces of meth and some marijuana.

The investigation is ongoing and more charges are expected.

Arrested at the locations for meth possession were Steven R. Vandinter, 41; Lindsey M. Pearson, 22; Kevin M. Heaton, 35; Randy E. Hewson, 25; and Danica M. Wood, 27.

Michael Thorne, 36, was arrested on six felony warrants.

Jesse T.J. Gust, 26, was arrested on a warrant for arson. Gust was identified as a suspect in the arson fire of a truck that was part of a love triangle involving meth addicts.

A man first identified as suspect, Jesse J. Icard, was cleared of wrongdoing and his charges have been dismissed. Witnesses appear to have mistaken Icard for Gust, according to new court documents.

An ex-con and suspected serial burglar told detectives he spends about $800 to $1,000 each week on methamphetamine.

 New court documents say Dean Michael Blackford, 50, waived his right to remain silent after his arrest Tuesday and admitted to committing 20 to 25 burglaries over the past year to fund he and his girlfriend's drug habit.

He identified three men as his main suppliers of methamphetamine and also told detectives of a home at 1928 E. Glass Ave. where he trades stolen power tools “straight across for dope,” documents say.

Detectives raided that home and two other locations after Blackford's interview. Blackford said he gave his girlfriend, Tawnya Werre, 43, stolen jewelry to sell at pawn shops.

That matches what prolific burglar Susan Burke told detectives about Blackford when she was arrested last week.

Blackford said he last contacted one of his meth dealers Tuesday and obtained new license plates for his Ford Ranger because “I didn't want to get caught,”according to detectives. Blackford said he told the man he planned to commit another burglary.

He said “everybody takes stuff there (at the meth house). It's common practice,” referring to “stuff” as stolen property. Detectives already were on Blackford's trail - they'd installed a GPS tracker on his car and had been following him for days.

They arrested him in a traffic stop Tuesday and searched his motel room, mother's home and a Spokane Valley storage unit. Read more here.

Detectives also drove Blackford throughout Spokane County as he pointed out homes he'd burglarized.

Blackford's information led detectives and the Spokane County SWAT team to raid the Glass Avenue home Thursday, as well as a shop at 12607 N. Freya in Mead where Blackford said he'd taken stolen property.

Detectives also searched a home at 7722 N. Altamont where Blackfod said he and Werre and traded jewelry for meth within he last couple of days. Werre is in jail on a probation hold and a civil bench warrant. She has not yet been arrested in this case.

Watch me discuss this story with KHQ's Dave Cotton.

A prolific burglary suspect arrested for a fuel theft in last week helped detectives identify a suspect in a series of rural Spokane County burglaries, including one that occurred as three children hid in the home. 

Susan Burke, who is awaiting trial in Kootenai County for a large burglary ring, told detectives that Dean Michael Blackford, 50, burglarized mostly rural Spokane County homes during the day, according to court documents.

Burke, 50, said Blackford targets higher-end homes for jewelry, tools and electronics, and that his girlfriend, Tawnya Werre, 43, sold jewelry at various stores in Spokane.

Detectives used a GPS device to track Blackfod's truck before arresting him on Tuesday.

Read the rest of my story here.

Past coverage:

April 10: Property crimes frustrate sheriff

A car prowling suspect who begged a sheriff's deputy for leniency earlier this month has been charged with burglary.

Orlando Jaramillo, 21, (pictured) said he had been “doing good” when he was arrested for stealing a cellphone April 3, but new charges filed in Spokane County Superior Court allege otherwise.

Jaramillo and his brother, Angelo Jaramillo, 22, are accused of stealing an air compressor from a truck parked at North Division Street and East Rockwell Avenue in January, as well as burglarizing a home in the 4100 block of East Pacific Avenue.

Tetyana Landrus, 19, is accused of selling the stolen property at a pawnshop.

The Jaramillos pleaded not guilty to the charges this week in Spokane County Superior Court and remain in the Spokane County Jail.

A homeowner in Medical Lake accused of shooting a fleeing 14-year-old burglary suspect in the back last December has been charged with assault.

In new court documents, Spokane County sheriff’s detectives outline a shooting they believe went beyond homeowner Justin Jeffrey Brown defending his property and crossed the line to criminal assault.

Read the rest of my story here.

Empty liquor bottles in the yard of a home that's typically immaculate led to the arrest of two Spokane residents on burglary charges last week, officials said today.

Ashley C. Spencer, 24, and her boyfriend, Zachary T. Harris, 23, had been staying in one of the burglarized homes, which belonged to a relative of Spencer, without permission when Pend Oreille County sheriff's deputies contacted them Friday.

Deputies were investigating burglaries at two vacation homes in the area of South Shore Road near Diamond Lake when they heard a burglary alarm at a nearby residence and found another home that bad been burglarized, according to the Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies began canvassing the neighborhood and noticed the liquor bottles and clothes in the yard of the normally well-kept home. Spencer and Harris were arrested, and deputies seized items from the burglaries at a family member's home.

They face residential burglary and malicious mischief charges. Harris also faces a marijuana possession charge.
  

A fuel theft at a Spokane Valley gas station this week led police to uncover a suspected burglary ring, officials said Friday.

 Bojan Derzic, 30, told police he'd committed 10 to 15 burglaries in recent months after he was arrested for allegedly stealing fuel at 411 N. Pines Road on Tuesday, according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Rick Johnson stopped Derzic driving a van near Mission Avenue and Woodward Road. He had a suspended license and admitted to the fuel theft, police said.

With Derzic in the van were Denis Buljubasic, 27, and prolific burglary suspect Susan Burke, 50 (pictured).

While investigating the gas theft, Spokane Valley police Sgt. Dave Martin recognized the color of the van listed on the registration did not match the color of the van registered to its license plates. A check of the VIN confirmed the van had been reported stolen in November 2011 in Liberty Lake.

Derzic and Burke also had checks that didn't belong to them. Police say the two stole the checks from a garage on the South Hill and had been forging them and depositing them at local banks. They used the cash to buy methamphetamine and gamble at Northern Quest Casino.

Detectives linked them to garage burglaries in the South Hill, Airway Heights and Otis Orchards area by checking pawn shop histories.

The suspects also directed police to a Toyota truck they'd stolen in north Spokane a week ago and left near East Broadway Avenue and North Madelia Street.

Buljabasic was released at the scene of Tuesday's stop, but Spokane police advised they had probable cause to arrest him for his alleged involvement in burglaries on the South Hill, along with Derzic.

The Spokane police Patrol Anti-Crime Team located Buljabasic in a car parked at the Airway Heights WalMart on Thursday. He was with Derzic, who had been released from jail just hours earlier. Both were arrested on suspicion of burglary. They admitted to other burglaries and crimes, police say, and Derzic was found to be in possession of methamphetamine. A slew of felony charges are expected.

BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — Thanks to a ringing cellphone with an incoming call from “Baby's momma,” police in Michigan say they were able to track down a suspected robber.

All photos of the property are available on the Sheriff's Office website or Facebook page.

The Spokane County Sheriff's Office is trying to identify the owners of suspected stolen property seized Tuesday after a resident reported suspicious activity north of Spokane Valley.

Officials found the items, which include silverware, jewelry and medical cards, in a car that Curtis McKelvey, 28, was driving when sheriff's Deputy James Ebel stopped him for driving with expired tabs near Liberty and Argonne roads about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, sheriff's spokesman Deputy Craig Chamberlin said today.

Ebel was looking for the vehicle after a neighbor in the area of 7900 East Gunning Drive in the Bigelow Gulch reported two suspicious men who'd walked into a backyard after backing a vehicle into a driveway.

McKelvey told Ebel he and his friend were in the area looking for work, Chamberlin said. He later said he was a heroin addict who needed money to buy more.

He allowed members of the sheriff's office burglary task force to search his car, where they located the suspected stolen property, along with bolt cutters, gloves and shaved car keys.

McKelvey was arrested on a felony warrant out of Adams County.

Photos of the property are available on the Sheriff's Office website or Facebook page. Victims who can identify their belongings should call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233 with the number o their theft report. You must provide proof of ownership to get your items back.

 Coeur d'Alene police are asking for help identifying men believed to be responsible for thefts at local gymnasiums.

At least two gyms have reported at least four thefts since March 20 in which thieves walk into the gyms and help themselves to keys and wallets in the men's locker rooms, according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

They use the keys to prowl vehicles in the parking lot.

Surveillance video released today from 360 Fitness, 410 W. Neider Ave., on March 20 shows one of the suspected thieves.

Photos from video at Safeway in Liberty lake show two men believed to be connected to the use of a credit card stolen from Peak Fitness on April 16.

The men are driving a dark-colored compact car.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Coeur d'Alene Police Department at (208) 769-2320.

A 75-year-old woman found a burglar in her home after getting out of her shower this morning, sheriff's deputies say.

The woman heard loud banging on her front door in the 600 block of West Regina Drive about 10:30 a.m. and found the man standing insider her hallway after she got dressed and walked toward the front door, according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office.

The man ran out of the home then ran westbound on Regina toward Mill Road. Deputies say he forced his way into the home through the front door.

The man is described as white, 18 years old with an average build and wearing blue jeans and a blue coat.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

Police on Friday arrested four men considered to be “well known burglars” responsible for crimes in Spokane Valley, officials said today.

A Spokane Valley night-shift patrol platoon led by Sgt. Don Manning focused on the area of 400 North University Road and the area of 13500 East Rich Road, which police say “have been notorious for criminal activity for some time.”

Arrested were Damian M. Plumley, 22, on warrants for three counts of second-degree theft and one count of first-degree trafficking in stolen property; Steven D.T. Devitt, 42, on a warrant for second-degree theft and vehicle prowling; Christopher Michael Stoddard, 20, on new charges of second-degree theft and first-degree trafficking in stolen property; and Mark William Bush, 37, on a Washington Department of Corrections warrant for failure to comply.

 Bush (pictured) is a repeat offender who was targeted by Crime Stoppers in February even though he already was in DOC custody.

Police recovered a large amount of stolen property during the arrests Friday, which property crimes detectives identified and returned to their owners.

“The return of these items took longer than normal because none of the high value items had been reported stolen,” sheriff's spokesman Deputy Craig Chamberlin said in a news release. “When detectives asked the property owners why they did not report the thefts, the property owners said they had not gotten around to it.”

“Citizens are asked to report any type of theft, suspicious vehicles or persons to either 911 or Crime Check,” Chamberlin continued. “This information is extremely valuable and played a vital role with the multiple arrests made this weekend in Spokane Valley. The Sheriff's Office has devoted extra resources to focus on burglaries in unincorporated Spokane County and the City of Spokane Valley.”

A Spokane man arrested more than 60 times since avoiding prison as a teenager for his role in a murder is back behind bars.

Nicholas Adam Limpert, now 26, is jailed on an unusually high bond of $250,000 for two counts of residential burglary after Spokane police arrested last week him and two other suspects last week for burglaries in the Indian Trail area of north Spokane.

 Limpert’s criminal history began at age 15 with the murder and robbery of a disabled janitor in northwest Spokane. The decision to allow him to be charged as a juvenile angered the victim’s family, who said they doubted he could be rehabilitated. After hearing news last year that he'd been arrested 67 more times, the judge who sentenced him as a juvenile said Limpert “probably should have been tried as an adult” for the murder.

Limpert was arrested for burglary in February 2011 for breaking into a garage to take back items he said were stolen from him when he was beaten, tied up and robbed at a motel earlier that week, according to court records.

Limpert's latest arrested occurred last Wednesday after Spokane police followed a silver Buick Riviera that had been seen in the area around the time of the burglaries.

Officers with the Patrol Anti-Crime Team watched Limpert and suspect Matthew R. Dobson, 24, approach several homes and quickly leave the area. One of the burglarized homes belongs to a clerk for a Spokane County Superior Court judge, according to court documents. They watched the men pick up Nicole Phillips, 29, then drive to the area of 1600 South Perry Street, where the suspects approached another home and left a short while later.

Officers followed the suspects to a home near 39th and Regal and watched the three unload suspect stolen property into a detached garage. The suspects were arrested at the scene.

Even if Limpert does post the $250,000 bond imposed at his first court appearance Thursday, he won't be able to leave jail. The Washington Department of Corrections has a no-bail hold on him for violating his probation for previous property crime convictions.

Limpert's demeanor seems to have changed since he was a boy. He was described as smirking and laughing (pictured left) during his sentencing for first-degree murder in 2001; Spokane police say he’s now well known for crying upon arrest.

Past coverage:

Nov. 30: Repeat offender's arrest reunites family