PORT ANGELES — A LaPush woman has been sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty to breaking into a Forks pizza shop and stealing a safe containing $7,000 in cash and checks in June.
Sarah Ellisyn Burnside, 18, has pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree burglary, first-degree theft, theft of a motor vehicle and second-degree malicious mischief stemming from a June 10 burglary at Pacific Pizza at 870 S. Forks Ave.
Forks officers arrested Burnside and Tyeson Frank LaGambina, 24, for investigation of the burglary.
Criminal charges were dropped against LaGambina after Burnside told Clallam County prosecuting attorneys she would not testify against him.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Christopher Melly sentenced Burnside on Feb. 24 to six months in jail, with 30 days converted to 240 hours of community service work, and 12 months of compliance monitoring through Friendship Diversion Services.
Burnside also must pay restitution, to be determined at an April 25 hearing.
Burnside remained in the Clallam County jail Tuesday.
According to Forks police accounts, Pacific Pizza owner Mark Raben called 9-1-1 at about 6:30 a.m. June 10 to report that his building appeared to have been entered through the shop’s back window, which had been broken.
Raben told police a safe containing about $7,000 in cash and checks had been stolen from inside the shop, in addition to a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu used for deliveries.
After her arrest June 24, Burnside told Officer Todd Garcia that she and LaGambina had been involved in the burglary and had burned the checks and credit card receipts found in the safe.
Burnside also told police she had driven the Chevy Malibu off a cliff near Sitkum-Sol Duc Road, about 2 miles east of U.S. Highway 101.
Police later found the car at the bottom of a 50-foot bluff off Sitkum-Sol Duc Road.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
