Burglary suspect eludes pursuing deputies in Port Angeles chase

Andrew Donald Luquette

Andrew Donald Luquette

PORT ANGELES — Clallam County sheriff’s deputies pursued a man Wednesday morning who had been sought since a Woodcock Road house was burgled last week.

But they were unable to capture him during a foot chase with at least one police dog in the Morse Creek area.

Andrew Donald Luquette, 31, a transient from the Sequim area, is one of four men suspected in a March 5 home burglary along Woodcock Road near Sequim in which tools, personal property and a Jeep were taken.

PenCom 9-1-1 received a call at about 9 a.m. from a former girlfriend of his saying that Luquette was at her home on Blue Jay Place east of Port Angeles, said Ron Cameron, chief criminal deputy for the Sheriff’s Office.

“Everyone and his dog has been looking for him, literally,” Cameron said.

Deputies converged on the area, and after a foot chase with at least one police dog joining the search, Luquette disappeared into the Four Seasons Park area north of U.S. Highway 101.

Cameron said he might have crossed Morse Creek or could be in one of the many houses in the area.

The chase was called off at about 10:45 a.m., he said.

Two men suspected in the burglary have been taken into custody: Drew Tyler Balch, 21, and Ryan Joseph Luquette, 34, brother of Andrew Luquette.

Still at large along with Andrew Luquette is Ronnie Lee Bayley, 37, also described as a Sequim-area transient.

Andrew Luquette is described as 6 feet, 1 inch tall with brown hair and eyes. He weighs 207 pounds.

Bayley is 5 feet, 5 inches tall with brown hair and eyes, weighing 150 pounds.

Balch was apprehended after a chase that covered 19.8 miles and ended last Wednesday morning on Old Gardiner Road.

Balch remained in the county jail Wednesday on $52,500 bail.

He was charged Tuesday with attempting to elude a police vehicle, second-degree driving with a suspended or revoked license and hit-and-run/property damage on an unattended vehicle.

Ryan Luquette was taken into custody Friday. He was charged Monday with second-degree burglary and remained in jail Wednesday. Bail was set at $10,000.

The Sheriff’s Office said that investigation began with reports of a suspicious gray truck and red Jeep Cherokee parked on Many Feathers Way in Sequim.

Witnesses told deputies they saw people transferring items between the two vehicles.

Deputies said they pursued and caught up with the truck, driven by Balch, and later learned that the Jeep and its contents had been taken from a burglarized house on Woodcock Road.

The Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant March 6 on a shed next to a house in the Sequim area where Andrew Luquette was seen unloading items.

Deputies said the items were stolen from the Woodcock Road home, and they found the stolen Jeep stripped the next day along a logging road near the 2900 block of Blue Mountain Road in Agnew.

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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.

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