East Wenatchee Man Arrested After Investigators Find Huge Cache of Stolen Property

An East Wenatchee man is in custody after the discovery of what law enforcement is calling one of the biggest caches of stolen property ever found in the region Friday.

Columbia River Drug Task Force Commander Chris Foreman said the suspect allegedly had stolen equipment, building materials and appliances from construction sites across Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Franklin counties.

"Pretty much anything you can think of that can be used to construct a house the suspect had taken and moved onto his property," said Foreman. "He was in the process of using that stolen property to remodel the residence on North Keller."

Foreman said the investigation first started on the patrol level with law enforcement responding to several construction sites in the recent past. Eventually a trend began to develop.

Being that the thefts ranged across several jurisdictions, the Columbia River Drug Task Force was brought in to handle the investigation.

A tip on a suspicious vehicle eventually led investigators to a home on the 100 block of North Keller Avenue in East Wenatchee. Law enforcement could allegedly see stolen property in the back yard of the residence from both the road and other neighbors' property.

Detectives then served a search warrant at the residence in the early morning May 20th.

Foreman claims every room of the house was filled with different items that were allegedly stolen. Some of the stolen items recovered from the property include three trailers, a dozen heat pumps, several stoves and dishwashers, washer/dryer sets, window and door packages, numerous tools and thousands of dollars in stolen lumber. Investigators are said to have also found hundreds of unopened bottles of alcohol.

The amount of property seized took over two days to process with 4-6 detectives working 10-14 hours each day.

The unnamed suspect has been charged with two counts of first degree theft, with several more charges likely.

Over 15-20 stolen property cases are believed to be closed following the bust. Construction companies that have been hit by the recent string of thefts include Sage Homes, Real Homes, Eider Construction, Pinnacle Custom Builders and Carlisle Classic Homes among others.