SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — At 4:30 Sunday morning, Snoqualmie police got a call from an eyewitness that someone was on the roof of the new Verizon building. Then the eyewitness heard noise. Soon afterward, officers arrived.
"We were able to enter the vacant store as well as Frankie's Pizza and catch them inside the store," said Capt. Nick Almquist.
"In the act?" he was asked.
"In the act, yes," he replied.
The owner of Frankie's did not want to talk about the burglars. The question was how did they inside? There is vacant office space next door and there were signs the door was wrenched open.
A look through the glass revealed a hole in the drywall the crooks allegedly made to get inside the pizzeria.
"Burrowing through one wall to the next is just an easy way of being incognito," said Capt. Almquist.
Twenty-nine-year-old Blake Scott Leighton made a first court appearance late Monday. His bail was set at $50,000.
Martin Rinke's bail was set at $20,000. And Alison Michelle Patsy, described as the lookout, was released on her own recognizance.
But police said they believe they may be responsible for 35 other burglaries, including those in North Bend: in Snoqualmie, Kirkland, Redmond, too.
"And we're working with the other detective divisions and crime analysis to try and loop these together," said Capt. Almquist.
That, he said, could take some time.
Meanwhile the trio is to be back in court Wednesday afternoon.
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