SEQUIM — Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies are seeking information about a daytime burglary in Sunland north of Sequim where a loaded handgun was stolen.
Deputies were called to the 100 block of Hilltop Drive at 2:50 p.m. Wednesday by a neighbor who told of “an unknown male leaving his neighbor’s house carrying a bag,” according to Chief Criminal Deputy Brian King.
He ran once the neighbor spotted him, King reported, and drove away in a black, four-door, mid-2000s Chevrolet Tahoe.
The alleged burglar is a white male with shoulder-length “crimped” blond hair. He was wearing all black with a red emblem on the right shoulder of his jacket and an unknown colored baseball hat, a witness told deputies, King reported.
On Friday, King said the Tahoe was recovered at the John Wayne Marina, where it appeared to have been abandoned Wednesday night. It did not have any license plates, and there are no computer records of the vehicle that deputies could find, he said.
A marina security guard saw the Sheriff’s Office’s Wednesday Facebook post and recognized the description of the vehicle, King said.
“We’ve processed it and took fingerprints and DNA, but that could take awhile,” King said.
“We’re still trying to find a suspect.”
The Sheriff’s Office has not found any connection between the potential suspect and the homeowner, he said.
It’s unclear whether or not the loaded Glock pistol was the only targeted item, King added.
“We’ve been considering if there are ties to other burglaries or if there’s a pattern of burglaries, but so far there have been no other burglaries or thefts in that area,” King said.
“We looked at some other calls about suspicious vehicles in the area, but there’s no connection.”
That includes the arrest of 50-year-old Charles Allen Gilbert on Thursday for allegedly burglarizing a cabin on the 6000 block of Palo Alto Road and taking about $5,500 in items, including a MacBook computer. Deputies later returned the stolen items.
Gilbert will be arraigned on Friday. Charges of trafficking in stolen property, first-degree theft and residential burglary are pending, authorities said.
Anyone with information about the Sunland burglary is asked to call sheriff’s dispatch at 9-1-1 or the non-emergency line 360-417-2459, ext. 1, or leave an anonymous tip at: www.clallam.net/cnmaster-c/nwformeml.php.