PORT ANGELES — A man reportedly sought after an armed bank robbery on Whidbey Island last month was arrested in Forks on Sunday for an alleged burglary of Blakeslee’s Bar and Grill.
Christian Michael Shorey, 34, was charged Tuesday with second-degree burglary and second-degree theft for allegedly breaking into the bar and taking 45 bottles of liquor, cash and other items.
He will be arraigned on the burglary and theft charges at 1:30 p.m. today in Clallam County Superior Court.
Shorey is being held on $10,000 bail in the Clallam County jail on the new charges and a felony warrant from Island County.
Person of interest
The Island County Sheriff’s Office considered Shorey one of three persons of interest in connection with a Sept. 8 armed robbery of a Wells Fargo Bank in Clinton, the South Whidbey Record reported.
Island County Sheriff’s Detective Rick Felici was not immediately available for comment Thursday.
Forks police arrested Shorey at the Rain Forest Mobile Home Park after reviewing surveillance footage of a person in a hooded sweatshirt entering Blakeslee’s Bar and Grill at about 5 a.m. Sunday.
A janitor reporting to work Sunday discovered an alarm box had been torn down and phone lines had been cut to the bar, police said in court papers.
Another employee reported that two walkie-talkies, a flat-screen TV and a lock box containing $20 to $50 in cash were missing in addition to the liquor.
Forks Officer Todd Garcia was interviewing a third bar employee at the mobile home park when Shorey emerged from a nearby trailer.
Turned around
A person later identified as Shorey saw the officer, quickly turned around and walked back into the trailer “as if he was avoiding me,” Garcia wrote in the arrest narrative.
Police obtained a search warrant and discovered 45 liquor bottles, walkie-talkies, wire cutters, Blakeslee’s Bar and Grill receipts and clothing matching the description of the suspect in Shorey’s room, court papers said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
