PORT ANGELES — A man arrested 10 times in six years was found with the help of a police dog last weekend and awaits an arraignment on burglary charges this Friday.
Officers arrested Sean Earl Gormley, 26, of Port Angeles a little after 11:30 p.m. Sunday minutes after he allegedly entered without permission the garage of a home in the 100 block of West Fourth Street through an unlocked door, said Brian Smith, deputy city police chief.
Police dog Jag tracked Gormley to the 200 block of South Laurel Street and found him hiding under a motor home, and was allowed to bite him when Gormley refused several times to come out, Smith said.
Gormley has been charged with one count of second-degree burglary, according to Superior Court documents, and remained in the county jail Tuesday with bail set at $5,000.
Smith said the Fourth Street homeowner called 9-1-1 at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday after he heard a noise coming from his garage and walked in to find a man with a flashlight rummaging through his belongings.
The burglar ran out of the garage and down an alleyway to the east, Smith said, after which police called in Cpl. Kevin Miller and K-9 partner Jag to track the man.
Gormley’s clothes matched those the homeowner saw on the man who ran from his garage, Smith said.
Gormley was treated at Olympic Medical Center for bite wounds to his left arm and taken to jail, Smith said.
Sunday’s encounter with Miller was not Gormley’s first, nor is he a stranger to police, Smith said.
“[Police] have arrested him 10 times since 2007,” Smith said.
In July 2008, according to Superior Court records, Miller and two other officers took a reportedly drunk Gormley from the parking lot of a Marine Drive business to OMC due to his level of intoxication.
According to Miller’s arrest report, Gormley tried, with hands cuffed behind his back, to pull Miller’s pistol from his holster as he walked Gormley into the hospital’s admittance area.
Gormley was not able to pull the gun from Miller’s holster, according to the report, and eventually was taken to jail after being detained with the help of Officer Sky Sexton.
Gormley pleaded guilty to one count of attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer and was sentenced in November to 365 days in jail with 104 days credit for time served.
More recently, Gormley was arrested in March along with Joseph Gregory Gaikowski, 28, also of Port Angeles, after the two were found in the Deer Park area of Olympic National Park by Miller and Jag, and Officer Lucas DeGand and K-9 partner Bogey.
The search through the woods followed a high-speed pursuit with a State Patrol trooper, according to police accounts.
Gaikowski eventually pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing a stolen vehicle and possession of morphine, according to court records, while Gormley was never charged in the case.
In February, Gormley pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree criminal impersonation and ultimately served 10 days in jail, according to Clallam County District Court records.
According to police accounts, Gormley had told a Sequim thrift shop employee upon entering the shop that he was an officer with the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team, or OPNET.
Gormley is not a member of OPNET, nor is he a police officer.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
