By CARA LORELLO
Staff Reporter
Robbing a store that sells video security systems may seem a contradiction to most, but not for two would-be burglars who found their way inside Cheney's Cascadia DVRT Systems store, 1321 Second St., around midnight on July 15.
After entering the store through an unbolted slider screen, the suspects, later identified as a 17-year-old Cheney student and Paul Chavez of Spokane, proceeded to steal an estimated $16,000 worth of merchandise before leaving the store around 12:22 a.m.
While they managed not to set off any alarms, what the suspects hadn't counted on was their movements getting picked by an in-store infrared security camera, catching both on tape during the act.
Store owners contacted police a few days later and gave the recording to the Cheney Police Department to help locate the suspects. After viewing the video, CPD Cpl. Dane Gillman, who assisted Det. Matt Pumphrey in the case, recognized one of the two individuals as a student at Cheney High School, where Gillman currently works as the district's resource officer during the school year. A glance through a school yearbook revealed a matching picture and a name to the video, which led to the officers making a contact.
When approached, the student suspect came clean.
“He admitted to being involved in the act, and he gave us a second name and where to find him in Spokane, and where to find the stolen property. More [merchandise] was stolen than initially first thought,” CPD Lt. Dave Mather said.
“It was because of the video [Gillman] was able to put a name to a face.
If we had to identify the people responsible without it, we wouldn't have had any way of figuring out who they were—neither one had ever been arrested before,” he added, explaining the only other piece of identification the station could have used as evidence was a few fingerprints, which would have found no matches in the county system.
Nineteen-year-old Chavez was located by police, along with the stolen merchandise. The two were charged with second-degree burglary and first-degree theft.
Police have sent the case to both juvenile and adult prosecutors for property crimes. Each will have the opportunity to enter a plea shortly, though Mather said there's a possibility the student, soon to turn 18, could be tried as an adult.
“There's a possibility…it depends on the individual's prior record, how close they are to [18] compared to the severity of the crime,” he said.
Cascadia production manager Steve Osterlund said on Aug. 1 the video provided to the station came from a camera model that can process images in the dark at a .05-lux (unit of illumination) activated by motion.
“It was actually one of our more lousier cameras, but it was able to pick them up,” he said. “The biggest mistake they made was walking into a store that sells security cameras. They looked right up at it, like they were getting their picture taken.”
Though most of the entrances and windows are bolted, Osterlund said the screen used by the suspects as an entry way was one of a few that weren't. He added that some safety guards have been added on, but overall owners don't worry too much about break-ins, given it uses its own security system, which proved effective in this case.
“Video is very effective in the interrogation room,” he said, and Mather agreed, adding that Gillman's contact with the school was helpful in tracking the suspects.
“The camera was invaluable in the process, but also valuable was having [Gillman] as the school resource officer that led to the immediate identification of the suspect as someone who attended the school here,” Mather said.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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