AGNEW — A Port Angeles man is expected to be arraigned on burglary and attempted-theft charges Friday after being arrested last week following an hours-long search in the Agnew area.
William Patrick Weems, 35, is scheduled to be arraigned in Clallam County Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. on one count each of residential burglary and first-degree attempted theft.
Weems remained in the Clallam County jail Wednesday in lieu of $10,000 bond.
Clallam County sheriff’s deputies arrested Weems last Friday at about 5 p.m. after pulling over a truck containing Weems as a passenger on U.S. Highway 101 near Bagley Creek Road.
Police did not arrest the driver of the truck, saying he did not seem to know that Weems was being pursued by law enforcement.
Weems was found in the truck about four hours after a friend of the owner of a vacant house on Highway 101 between Dryke and Barr roads came across a man packing about $8,000 worth of tools and electronics into a suitcase.
The friend, who had approached the house after he noticed the garage door had been forced opened and left ajar, yelled at the burglar and called 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers at about 12:41 p.m. Friday.
The intruder fled, leaving the belongings behind, and rode west on Highway 101 on a bicycle that he had seemingly left by the side of the house.
This triggered a four-hour manhunt for a person matching the description of the intruder.
The search in the Agnew area involved State Patrol troopers, Border Patrol agents and a Coast Guard helicopter.
An area resident later called 9-1-1 to report a man matching the burglar’s description getting into a pickup truck near Lewis Road and Highway 101.
After Weems was arrested, he told sheriff’s deputies he had been at the property that had been broken into but denied being inside.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
