MUKILTEO — Police say a would-be burglar caught drunk and sleeping on the floor of a Mukilteo apartment is suspected in at least a half dozen more break-ins.
A couple discovered the man sprawled out on their living room floor near a shattered sliding glass door on Valentines Day, according to court papers.
They also found food he’d reportedly left on the counter and a green backpack containing some of their belongings and items that were stolen during other burglaries.
Police had to roust the suspect, 30, from his slumber before arresting him. He told them he’d been drinking and using drugs.
The man admitted to having a drug problem. He told police that he had been an Oxycontin addict for about nine years and that he turned to heroin about a year ago because it was cheaper and more readily available.
The Mukilteo man admitted to two break-ins before the Feb. 14 burglary.
The Valentines Day arrest apparently didn’t slow him down. Released from jail March 12, the man allegedly broke into a home in the 5300 block of Harbour Pointe Boulevard three days later.
He allegedly kept it up until March 23, when he was again arrested and booked for investigation of burglary and trafficking in stolen property.
During the March 15 burglary, the suspect said he brought a glass cutter with him and tried to remove the glass “but it didn’t work the way he had seen in the movies, so he resorted to throwing a rock through the patio slider,” court papers said.
He allegedly stole jewelry and a laptop, selling the jewelry to different gold buying businesses. He said drug dealers stole the laptop from him while he tried to buy heroin.
The suspect said he stole jewelry and a digital camera during a March 19 burglary, but left behind two guns he’d planned to take. He said he heard sirens and ran out the back into a ravine. He said he sold the camera to a drug dealer for $20 in heroin, court papers said.
On March 22, the suspect allegedly broke into two homes and stole a carpet cleaning machine during one of the burglaries, court papers said.
Most of the burglaries were within Mukilteo city limits.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com
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