The following summaries are derived from reports filed over the past few weeks by the Port Orchard Police Department. The summaries are not intended to be a complete recounting of incidents under police investigation.
April 17
A call came into CENCOM from a crying male who said he needed aid. The man said he was calling from the 3900 block of Bethel Avenue. When an officer arrived, he found the male, still crying, standing in the rain with a cell phone to his ear. He appeared to the officer to be intoxicated. The man also was found to have urinated on himself.
When he was asked why he needed help, the man simply repeated his request for medical aid. Shortly after, an aid unit arrived, but medics could not find anything medically wrong with him.
The man then told the officer and medics that they “needed to find something” or he would just call again. When his name was checked by CENCOM, it returned with a Port Orchard Police Department municipal warrant for first-degree criminal trespassing with a $5,000 bail.
The officer told the man that he had an option to sleep off his intoxicants and not call 911 again. He replied that while he’d like that option, he knew that he’d just keep calling — so he might as well go to jail.
After his warrant was confirmed, the male got his wish and was transported to Kitsap County Jail, where he was booked on the warrant.
April 16
An officer responded to a call from a grocery store at the 300 block of SW Sedgwick about a shoplifter who was in custody. The store’s loss prevention officer said the suspect had been witnessed selecting groceries throughout the store, then passing all points of sale and exiting without paying. After leaving, the suspect was contacted and escorted back inside. The female suspect had taken a shopping cart filled with items valued at $223.59, with a value of $137.56 that could be restocked for sale. She was put under arrest and into handcuffs.
Asked by the officer what had happened, the remorseful suspect said “I got desperate. It was stupid. I’m sorry.” After being issued a third-degree theft citation, the suspect was informed that she was trespassed from the grocery store — barred from ever entering it again. As she was released from handcuffs and escorted out of the building, she told the officer: “Thank you for being so nice. It was all my fault.”
April 12
Officers were dispatched to the 1000 block of Bethel Avenue at the site of an abandoned house. A caller told police that a truck was observed backing into the residence and a male standing outside the vehicle. The officers were familiar with the dilapidated house, which has been abandoned for years and is a common location for people to break into, live in or use to store stolen vehicles.
An approaching officer reported he could hear what sounded like someone moving through the overgrown brush in front of the residence. When he began walking through a cleared patch of brush toward the front of the residence, he spotted a male with some pliers and clippers on the porch. The officer announced himself and had the man come toward them. He was cooperative and stated that he was there just for some scrap metal. One of the officers detained him with handcuffs.
The officers observed that all the windows to the residence were either open or removed. All doors had been left open. When they called inside, they heard only silence. Inside, the ceiling had been ripped down. Electrical wiring and plumbing had been removed. There were holes in the walls and flooring, leaving the house a safety hazard.
After acknowledging that his rights had been read to him, the man said he earlier was at a next-door breakfast restaurant with his kids when he saw the abandoned residence from the parking lot. He saw there was a refrigerator on the front porch. The man told officers he hadn’t entered the house and was just cutting brush leading to the porch.
After getting permission from the man, officers looked inside his vehicle. No scrap metal, wiring or plumbing materials were seen inside. While the man acknowledged he didn’t have the owner’s permission to be on the property, he just didn’t think it was a big deal. Despite that, the man was remorseful for his actions and having involved the officers. He was issued a citation for second-degree criminal trespass with a court date set.
The officers reported they were unable to secure the residence since every access point was open or removed. They reported that the structure is a nuisance, with transients congregating and criminal activities taking place there. It also is a hazard for anyone entering the house, the report said.
The reporting officer wrote that the property owner has not paid taxes or taken care of it in many years.
