Three people were arrested in connection with a rash of daytime residential burglaries in which houses were ransacked after the thieves knocked to see if anyone was home.
Sean Fuellas, 21, of Sequim; Aaron Mylan, 19, of Sequim; and Joseph Ray Farrington, 21, of Port Angeles; were in custody in the Clallam County jail on Wednesday after they were arrested Tuesday.
Clallam County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Lyman Moores said he couldn’t say exactly how many of the mass of burglaries under investigation the three are suspected of committing. Daytime burglaries have been reported on the North Olympic Peninsula since last fall.
“When we started investigating, we had over 100 burglaries,” Moores said. “What we found out is that there were little, different cells of different burglars doing these operations. We were focusing on the serial burglaries with forced entries.”
Moores said that the law enforcement group believes that the latest arrests may be connected to two burglaries in Jefferson County.
“That is the thing that we found about this group,” he said.
“They had no geological pattern. They would go to Port Angeles, to the Sequim area, drive around out in the county and over in Jefferson County. We didn’t find any pattern with these guys.”
Fuellas was arrested for investigation of possession of stolen property, trafficking in stolen property, possession of a stolen firearm, delivery of a controlled substance, alteration of identifying marks on a firearm, eight counts of residential burglary, third-degree theft, second-degree theft and first-degree theft.
Mylan was arrested on investigation of possession of stolen property, trafficking in stolen property, possession of a stolen firearm, delivery of a controlled substance, alteration of identifying marks on a firearm, residential burglary, third-degree theft, two counts of second-degree theft and first degree theft.
Farrington was arrested on investigation of possession of stolen property, delivery of a controlled substance and residential burglary.
None of the three have been formally charged and court dates were pending on Wednesday night.
The Clallam County Burglary Task Force — which includes the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, the Sequim Police Department and the Port Angeles Police Department — cooperated in the investigation, Moores said.
Two arrested in January
He said that this group of three — and several more which he said the task force expects to arrest soon — are not related to a group of which two were arrested in January.
They were Andrew J. Ellsworth and Zachary R. Oravetz on Jan. 9, who were charged for burglaries in Port Angeles and on Hennessy Lane west of town.
Ellsworth pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail converted to 240 hours of community service with two days credit for time served.
Oravetz pleaded not guilty and has a trial scheduled for June 14.
Similar methods
Both groups are believed to have similar methods, Moores said.
“It is a common tactic now days,” Moores said. “Criminal burglars go around during the day and knock on doors.
“They know that two people often work in the family so if no one answers the door they break in.
“They are much bolder than they were 20 years ago.”
Then, burglars often would work at night and look for vacant places or places with newspapers or mail stacking up, Moores said.
“Now, unfortunately, a lot of the cases are fueled because of drug habits and their inhibitions are lowered and they are bolder acting during the day,” he said.
“This is why it is so important that if your neighborhood doesn’t have a block watch program for neighbors to be aware and if they see suspicious behavior to report it to law enforcement.”
Fear in community
Moores said the task force has been working hard to solve the burglaries because of the fear created in the community.
“We don’t want people to live in fear,” he said.
“The nature of this is very scary where they are breaking in during daylight hours and going through homes like this.”
He said that items that were reported taken included flat screen TVs, laptop computers, guns and prescription medications.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
