PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Townsend man now faces 32 counts in connection with a rash of Jefferson County home and business burglaries occurring last May and June.
Austin James Thacker, 19, is scheduled to go to trial on those charges in Jefferson County Superior Court on Jan. 8.
County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katherine Gulmert said she expected Thacker to strike a plea bargain Friday, but his defense attorney, Richard Davies, instead said Thacker would be going to trial.
The previous day, Gulmert rose Thacker’s original 10 counts to 32.
“We received many pieces of additional information since he was first charged,” Gulmert said.
He now faces one Class A felony charge, 18 Class B felony charges and 13 Class C felony charges, which include first- and second-degree burglary, first-degree theft of a firearm, first- and second-degree possession of stolen property, first- and second-degree theft, second-degree malicious mischief, second-degree attempted burglary, residential burglary and possession of a controlled substance other than marijuana.
That controlled substance was methamphetamine, court records show.
June arrest
Thacker was arrested June 14 at his Port Townsend home along with Niles Reid Shroyer, 21, of Port Townsend.
Shroyer faces 10 counts in connection with the burglaries. He faces a pre-trial hearing Friday in Jefferson County Superior Court.
Both men are free on bail.
