Over the last month there has been a rash of burglaries, thefts, vehicle thefts and vehicle prowls, all mostly occurring in the Malott and Brewster areas. During the thefts, thousands of dollars worth of items have been stolen, which included tools, power tools, firearms, food, computers and a host of other items. The burglaries have occurred at residences, shops, sheds and businesses.
The Okanogan County Sheriff's Office has been investigating the burglaries for several weeks and chasing down every lead they could find. On 09-25-08 a break came in the case when an arrest was made of a subject who was believed to be involved in these cases. Between 09-25-08 and 09-27-08 four subjects have been arrested for the burglaries and thefts.
Arrested so far in the investigation are;
Johnny B Woodward, 51 of Malott and Okanogan
Timothy M. Florence, 39 of Okanogan
Lawrence F. Sellars, 40, of Omak
Gregory F. Everybodytalksabout, 42, of Malott
The four subjects were arrested over the last two days with evidence showing they were involved in the crimes. As of the 27th Deputies have been able to solve at least 15 different burglary complaints, that occurred from Malott to Brewster, was well as in Douglas County.
Four separate vehicles had been reported stolen during the crime spree, one was stolen from Airway Heights Washington and brought to Okanogan County. All of the four vehicles have been located and recovered. Some of the stolen vehicles were actually being used to commit the burglaries and then later dumped off in different areas while another vehicle was stolen to continue with the thefts.
The investigation has shown that the burglaries and thefts were being done to supply the drug habits of the suspects, who were trading the stolen property for drugs and cash, mostly meth and cocaine. In the span of around three weeks they pretty much raided the southend of the county, stealing anything they could find and creating long a list of victims. The investigation also shows that the suspects at times worked together or in separate groups to commit the crimes.
At this time the investigation is on-going with additional arrests expected. As for the property very little has been recovered at this time, but Deputies are following up leads for several locations as to where the stolen property may have been taken. Several other burglaries and thefts will be resolved as the investigation continues into these four suspects and others.
The investigation has been spear headed by the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office but has had assistance in the investigation from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and Brewster Police Department. As for the Deputies from my office, they have spent a lot of hours and overtime hours working these cases and have done an incredible job.
All four suspects are well known by law enforcement;
Woodward was arrested in Malott on 09-25-08, he has been booked for the following crimes;
Burglary I (One Count)
Possession Stolen Property (One Count)
Theft of a Firearm (Four Counts)
Florence was arrested in Okanogan on 09-25-08, he has been booked for the following crimes;
Burglary I (Two Counts)
Burglary II (Three Counts)
Theft I (Four Counts)
Theft II (One Count)
Theft of a Firearm (Four Counts)
Theft of a Vehicle (Two Counts)
Everybodytalksabout was arrested on Hwy 17 on 09-27-08, he has been booked for the following crimes;
Burglary I (Two Counts)
Burglary II (Two Counts)
Theft I (Four Counts)
Theft of a Firearm (One Count)
Possession Stolen Property (Two Counts)
Sellars was arrested in Omak on 09-27-08, he has been booked for the following crimes;
Burglary I (One Count)
Burglary II (One Count)
Theft I (Four Counts)
Theft of a Vehicle (One Count)
Theft of a Firearm (One Count)
Follow up:
On 09-27-08 at around 2:00 PM Sgt. Gene Davis from the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office was working on several other burglary investigations and in fact had one of the suspects in a previous arrest who was taking him around the county to show the different places he and his accomplices had burglarized.
As they were pulling into a residence off of North Star Road, Sgt. Davis observed two subjects in the process of stealing tires from another residence. Sgt. Davis pulled into the residence and contacted the subjects. Deputy Gonzalez arrived at the scene to assist in the investigation.
The two suspects admitted they had gone to the residence to steal the tires and were in the processes of stealing the tires when Sgt. Davis caught them.
Arrested at the scene were;
Sergio Morales-Corrales, 22 of Brewster and
Apolinar Pureco-Molinero, 27 of Brewster.
Both subjects were transported to the Okanogan County Jail and booked for Theft 2. Excellent job by Sgt. Davis, to be in the middle of one investigating and to have the heads up to know he was observing a separate crime and to make the arrests.
Sheriff Frank T. Rogers
