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Police Find Suspected Burglar Passed Out In Prowled Car

Police are investigating a 25-year-old man found passed out in a car early Wednesday morning for three burglaries, a car prowl and assault in the same night.

Police responded to a burglary in an apartment building in the 2900 block of Eastlake Avenue E at 5:30 AM, and spoke to a resident who had been awakened by a noise. She went to investigate and found a track of dirty footprints on her carpet, leading from an open window to her front door.

Officers searched the building but were unable to locate the suspect.

At 8:15 AM another resident of the same building called police after he found a man asleep in his car inside the apartment complex’s secure parking garage. The resident confronted the suspect, who pulled out a box cutter, threw an errant punch, and then a rock, striking the victim in the chest. The resident, who was not seriously injured in the incident, called 911 and chased after the suspect as he shouted death threats at the victim.

Police arrived and arrested the car prowler.

Officers found several bikes in the parking garage, which were previously locked up by residents of the apartment complex, had been cut free and moved to another area of the garage. Police believe the suspect may have intended to steal the bikes after he awoke from his nap.

When officers searched the suspect, they found a school ID and debit card belonging to a woman, and a lanyard from a University District church.

Police contacted the woman, who reported that someone had entered her University District apartment overnight through a window while she slept and stolen her keys and bank cards from a table.

Officers looked into the church named on the lanyard and discovered that they, too, had been burglarized around 3 AM that morning, when a janitor had spotted a man inside the building, trying to make off with an armload of A/V equipment. The thief–who just so happened to match the description of the man involved in the other break-ins–dropped the equipment and fled after noticing the janitor.

Police collected fingerprints and other evidence at all of the crime scenes and booked the 25-year-old suspect into the King County Jail for burglary, assault, harassment, and possession of stolen property.