Tacoma man arrested in Lewis County with stolen gun, outstanding warrant

A Tacoma man was arrested Wednesday after police found him in possession of a handgun stolen the previous day from a Glenoma residence.

Donald R. Schmidt, Jr, 41, of Tacoma, was charged Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

He is being held in the Lewis County Jail on $50,000 bail.

On Tuesday, deputies from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a robbery sometime that day at a residence in the 100 block of Uden Road East in Glenoma. Four guns, including two handguns and two rifles were taken.

Unknown suspects entered the home through an unlocked door, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The following day, Sheriff’s deputies working with U.S. Marshals were working in the Glenoma area when one deputy saw two women and a man walking on the side of the road near the intersection of Uden Road and U.S. Highway 12.

The deputy stopped to talk with the pedestrians, one of whom said they were walking to her house.

The man in the group, later identified as Schmidt, told the deputy he had information about the burglary, according to court documents.

More deputies arrived on scene, and learned Schmidt had a state Department of Corrections warrant for his arrest for escaping community custody.

Deputies found a black semi-automatic handgun in Schmidt’s possession which matched the description of one of the guns stolen in the burglary. The gun was not loaded.

Schmidt’s most recent criminal convictions were for two counts of residential burglary in 2013 in Pierce County, according to court documents.

His next court hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

This story was originally published March 18, 2017 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Tacoma man arrested in Lewis County with stolen gun, outstanding warrant."