by AMANDA WINTERS
Sequim Gazette
Two Sequim teens already facing burglary charges were arrested Feb. 11 on suspicion of breaking car windows a month before the alleged burglary.
Tyler Townsend and Jordan Hartman, both 19, of Sequim, are accused of breaking car windows in October 2010 and face two counts of malicious mischief each. Townsend faces additional charges of taking a motor vehicle without permission and second-degree malicious mischief stemming from a June 2009 incident.
Hartman and Townsend are accused of breaking windows out of three cars in the 200 block of East Prairie Street in Sequim on Oct. 26 or Oct. 27, 2010. Sequim police said they found cell phone video of the two, along with a juvenile suspect, breaking the car windows. The video was found after police served a search warrant on an unrelated case, Officer Cory Hall said in a police certification for probable cause.
Hall said at 12:05 a.m. on Oct. 27, 2010, officers responded to the report of people breaking car windows, but when they arrived no one was there. Police did find three cars had windows broken out of them.
Hartman and Townsend were booked into the Clallam County jail Feb. 11 and released Feb. 14.
While in jail, Townsend was questioned about a June 2009 car theft. Sequim Police Officer Todd Yarnes said in a probable cause statement that Townsend’s thumb print was identified by the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory on Feb. 2, 2011, on the interior rearview mirror of a Buick stolen from the 700 block of Evans Road in Sequim.
Yarnes said he processed the vehicle for finger prints after it was found abandoned in Sunland the day it was reported stolen. The car had sustained an estimated $3,200 in damage.
The burglary charges, filed three months ago, are in connection with a late-night break-in at the Tattoo Guy shop on East Washington Street during a power outage Nov. 29. Townsend and Hartman, along with a juvenile co-defendant, are accused of breaking a window at the tattoo shop during the power outage, causing extensive damage to the inside of the shop and stealing a $2,800 paintball gun.
Hartman and Townsend pleaded not guilty Feb. 16 to the new charges.
Reach Amanda Winters at awinters@sequimgazette.com.
