Man suspected of 17 burglaries at local businesses has been arrested in Pierce County
Police arrested a 36-year-old man Thursday who they suspect of burglarizing businesses in Bonney Lake and Sumner.
Officers are investigating 17 commercial burglaries or attempted burglaries tied to the suspect in the past seven months, Bonney Lake Police Chief Mark Berry said Friday.
“Those are the ones that we are aware of,” Berry told The News Tribune.
Pierce County prosecutors charged him with unlawful gun possession, four counts of second-degree burglary and three counts of attempted second-degree burglary Friday. He was expected to be arraigned that afternoon. Court records did not list an attorney for him.
Two of those burglaries and one of the attempted burglaries were in Sumner, Berry said. Two of the burglaries and two of the attempted burglaries were in Bonney Lake.
He said the suspect generally targeted restaurants, nail salons and tanning salons, as well as other small, local businesses. Charging papers accuse the man of taking cash and various merchandise from the businesses.
The 36-year-old has prior convictions in Pierce County Superior Court for identity theft and possession of stolen property in 2012, for burglarizing a local restaurant where he used to work in 2015, and for burglarizing another restaurant in 2019, court records show.
Police searched the suspect’s house after serving a search warrant on Feb. 20, the Bonney Lake Police Department said in a Facebook post. They arrested him “without incident” and booked him into Pierce County Jail.
“We recovered evidence he used in the crimes, items taken from the businesses and a stolen handgun,” Berry said.
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 2:29 PM.
