One of two cigarette butts picked up by a deputy near the Padrick Road burglary scene. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A stolen credit card used at a 7-11 store with surveillance video, a pair of cigarette butts with DNA and nearly three months of interviews and investigating led to the recovery of four vehicles and more than $10,000 worth of stolen property, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Two men from Burien have been implicated in burglaries in Lewis County, one of whom is being held in the Lewis County Jail and the other in the King County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said one of them has relatives in Centralia and they targeted random homes.
On July 27, a house on the 2000 block of Padrick Road near Centralia was ransacked and the residents discovered more than $20,000 worth of valuables had been taken, including a handgun and bank cards, according to authorities. Less than a week later, a motor home and a Ford Mustang were stolen from a shop building where they were stored on Middle Fork Road.
According to court documents, in mid-August, sheriff’s detective Gene Seiber took the case over and began tracking the numerous purchases made with the victim’s credit card.
After some of the Padrick Road couple’s stolen property turned up in the vehicle of a man arrested in King County, Seiber put together a photo montage and showed it to the clerk at 7-11, according to the document.
Jared M. Bruce, 26, from Burien, denied involvement, and blamed his friend, 37-year-old Jack E. Grier, according to Chief Deputy Stacy Brown.
Detectives visited Grier’s apartment, found some of the missing property and arrested him on Wednesday, Brown indicated.
Two fairly fresh cigarette butts picked up by a deputy from near a gate at Padrick Road sent to the crime lab for testing show matches made with Bruce and Grier, according to Brown.
Grier was brought before a judge yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court
He has not been charged but was ordered held on $100,000 bail.
Deputy Prosecutor Sheila Weirth told the judge Grier has a criminal history that includes several burglaries, theft and drug possession; and that he was just released from prison last October. Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke said Grier has a stable address with his wife and two children.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, when Grier spoke with detective Seiber, he said he was sorry and that he had a drug problem.
He is scheduled to go before a judge again the afternoon. Criminal charges are pending against his friend Bruce, according to the sheriff’s office.
The documents offer information on only the two burglaries, but Brown stated in a news release this morning that six burglaries in the case have been solved.
The Winnebago and the Mustang were recovered in King County, according to court documents.
Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza said in a printed statement he is very proud of the deputies and detectives and their tenacity.
“This investigation took a lot of time to complete, but it is worth every minute when we are able to return property back to rightful owners, and hold criminals accountable for their behavior,” Snaza said.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Nice piece of police work.
it was Padrick Road … the court documents misspelled / misidentified the name of the road
The Chronicle says Patrick Road, but this article says Padrick road. Could it just be that people are just used to the name Padrick being connected to any burglary and theft situation? Thank God that POS is locked up for a while. Padrick, I mean. I hope this one goes down for a long time too. I still say cut off their hands.