“This should make a pretty significant dent in the number of burglaries,” police spokesman Mark Fulghum said Friday.

The initial focus of the department’s investigation, 28-year-old Justin Wayne Kendall, pleaded not guilty Friday to nine counts of residential burglary and one count each of first-degree burglary, possession of stolen property and trafficking in stolen property.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge James Orlando ordered Kendall jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail, saying the convicted felon presented a “community safety issue.”

Tacoma police investigators believe Kendall is responsible for a series of burglaries at occupied Northeast Tacoma homes between June 23 and July 3, including one belonging to a retired police officer.

Police believe Kendall entered many of the homes through unlocked doors or windows, according to court records.

In one of those burglaries, the victim’s home surveillance cameras captured the thief on tape. Investigators released the images and a description of the man to the media July 8 in hopes of identifying him.

The tips started coming in, Fulghum said. Some of the information led to the arrest of two other suspected burglars believed responsible for 10 different burglaries in the Northeast Tacoma area.

Other tips helped detectives in their search for the cat burglar.

“Those helped (the detectives) narrow their focus,” Fulghum said.

Investigators got a big break Tuesday.

A laptop computer taken in one of the burglaries sent out a silent signal that was picked up by a LoJack tracking device. The tracking system usually is used in vehicles but can be put in other equipment, cargo and even on people, according to the company’s Web site.

“The LoJack activation was what got things moving,” Fulghum said.

On Wednesday, investigators served a search warrant on a Puyallup-area home, Fulghum said. A man answered the door armed with a gun and was taken into custody.

Inside the home, investigators found the stolen laptop, two guns and a marijuana operation.

Interviews led investigators to a home in the Kent area later that day. Officers arrested two people, found a marijuana operation and confiscated an assault rifle during a search, Fulghum said.

Through interviews and other information obtained in the investigation, detectives identified Kendall as their suspected cat burglar. They went to his Northeast Tacoma home Wednesday and saw him and a woman leave and head toward Federal Way, Fulghum said.

Officers stopped the couple’s car at a fast-food restaurant and took both into custody without incident.

Kendall told investigators he’d burglarized 13 homes, Fulghum said. Investigators also are looking at whether he was involved in commercial burglaries in South King County.

While executing the search warrants, detectives recovered several items of stolen property. They were trying to identify who owned the items but were having some difficulties.

“Because they have no serial numbers, it is extremely difficult to identify who’s property it is and return it to them,” Fulghum said.

Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268

blogs.thenewstribune.com/crime

Staff writer Adam Lynn contributed to this report.