NCN911: Police nab squatters for OS burglaries

A couple suspected of squatting in a vacant house on Sand Dune Avenue in Ocean Shores have been arrested and charged with residential burglary.

Ocean Shores Police say they are possibly involved in other burglaries in the area.

Officers were alerted on Oct. 16 by a resident that a suspicious male and a female were walking on Sand Dune Ave. SW at about 6 a.m., with the man pushing a cart with items in it. The woman was carrying two large bags, the police report said.

Sgt. Kyle Watson and Officer Kellen Church checked the area and found that a house in the 500 block of Ocean Shores Blvd. SW had been burglarized.

“A great deal of property, including furniture, dishes and even cabinets had either been removed from the house or had been piled near the door to be removed later,” a police report said.

Further investigation led the officers to a house in the 400 block of Sand Dune Ave. SW. The suspects, a 38-year old man and a 28-year old woman, were apparently “squatting’ in the vacant house,” the police report said. “The woman was found hiding in a bed stolen from the other house, covered in stolen blankets.”

Watson obtained a search warrant for the house and recovered nearly all the property stolen in the burglary. Other property, possibly from other burglaries, also was located.

Both suspects were booked into the Grays Harbor County Jail.