by AMANDA WINTERS
Sequim Gazette

Two teenagers are accused of breaking into an Agnew area home and stealing guns, tools, jewelry and $40,000 in cash.

 

Blake Stensland, 19, of Port Angeles, and a juvenile male allegedly broke into a home on Shamrock Lane on Feb. 28 by kicking open a garage door, laundry room door and locked master bedroom door.

 

The two stole a safe containing $40,000, a rifle, jewelry, a large knife and a chain saw, according to a Clallam County Sheriff’s Office probable cause report.

 

After the burglary the juvenile, who will not be named because of his age, called a friend to give him a ride, telling him on the drive what they stole and getting his help to bury some of the money, deputies said.

 

The friend reported the incident to deputies March 1 and showed them where more than $28,000 was buried and where some of the other stolen goods were hidden, deputies said.

 

Deputies said they arrested the juvenile on suspicion of burglary and he admitted to being a lookout during the burglary.

 

On March 3, deputies received a phone call from the burglary victim who said Stensland was at a motel in Bremerton. Deputies and Bremerton police officers responded to the motel and found a friend of Stensland’s who told them the suspect was not there, deputies said.

 

The burglary victim and Stensland’s friend had looked through Stensland’s bag and found more than $4,400, stolen silver dollars, foreign money and jewelry, deputies said.

 

The friend told deputies Stensland asked him for a ride to the Silverdale Mall on Feb. 29 and bought clothing with cash at the mall before getting a room at a motel in Bremerton. The next day, Stensland asked his friend to drive him to the Seattle area to purchase a Subaru, which he bought with $15,000 or $16,000 in cash, deputies said.

 

When the friend asked Stensland about the cash, he learned of the burglary, deputies said.

 

The Subaru was located at the Bremerton motel, searched by deputies and towed to the Bremerton Police Department, according to the report.

 

Stensland was arrested and booked into the Clallam County jail March 4 on suspicion of residential burglary and theft.

 

March 5 prosecutors charged Stensland in Clallam County Superior Court with residential burglary, theft of a firearm and first-degree theft, all Class B felonies. His arraignment is set for March 9 and he remains in custody at the jail in lieu of $50,000 bond, as set by Superior Court Judge Ken Williams.

 

 

Reach Amanda Winters at awinters@sequimgazette.com.