By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
Jan Bush is concerned a burglary ring may be looking to clean out her Marshall-area neighborhood and wants fellow residents to be on the lookout for suspicious individuals.
Ditto for Spokane County Sheriff's Office public information officer Sgt. Dave Reagan.
Bush said she and others have noticed a silver car that seemed to always be in the vicinity of several recent break-ins, including Bush's house on Gardner Road when it was one of about five burglarized Oct. 17. Bush said the burglars entered through a small window, and took a variety of items such as an air gun, a 1980s-era Minolta 35mm camera and some “cheap” dime store jewelry.
What leads her to suspect the area is being staked out is that several residents have reported seeing a pair of smallish young men, possibly teens or early 20s, getting out of the silver car and knocking on front doors. If someone is home and answers, Bush said the pair has made up some kind of excuse for knocking
One resident told Bush the pair knocked at his door and when his daughter answered, they told her they were there to look at the tractor the family had for sale. The daughter told the men her father was not home but expected back soon and they were welcome to wait, but they declined and left. When her father returned home and she informed him of the incident, he told her they weren't selling their tractor.
Bush said she has now heard of the men and silver car being seen near residences along Sherman, Andrus and Short roads.
“It's like they've circled in on this area,” she said.
Reagan said they have received elevated burglary reports in the Marshall area over the past four months, but that the Sheriff's Office has also seen increases in north, south and west areas of the county as well. He said three houses along Brooks Road near Medical Lake were recently burglarized but added it's typical to see a rash of rural incidents this time of year.
“It's not unusual for us to get those kind of spikes,” Reagan said.
Sheriff's deputies have apprehended an individual associated with several break-ins in the south and or west areas of the county. Dean M. Blackford was taken into custody on Oct. 8, and remains behind bars at Geiger Corrections Center awaiting trial.
Reagan said Blackford was traveling with a companion, a woman identified only by the name of “Tanya” who is not in custody and not wanted at this time. Reagan added they knew of others working the area, and said residents an burglary victims should contact Crime Check at 456-2233 if they have any information.
“We encourage people to report, even if they don't have any hope of catching them,” he added.
Bush feels the same way. She hopes residents will keep an eye out, and has even gone so far as to post information on the reader board at the Marshall Post Office.
“Man, they just get away with murder,” Bush said. “They're cleaning up in this whole area.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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