Four people were arrested near Sequim in early September after allegedly attempting to steal a portable sawmill, according to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.

At about 7:12 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 2, county deputies responded to a report of a male in a beige Ford Truck on the 500 block of Atterberry Road leaving a neighbor’s property, dragging a sawmill headed towards Sherburne Road.

The reporting party was confident the sawmill was stolen, according to the sheriff’s office, because the suspects were dragging it along the roadway as they pulled away from the property.

When deputies responded to the scene, two males were seen getting into the truck and driving away at a high rate of speed eastbound on Atterberry Road; the sawmill had been dropped in the middle of Sherburne Road.

A deputy attempted to stop the truck but was unable to catch up to the vehicle.

Deputies learned there were four suspects in the beige Ford Truck at the time the theft was reported, and that one of the suspects was identified as 31-year-old Dillan J. Klepps of Forks, according to the sheriff’s office.

At about 7:27 a.m., a resident called 9-1-1 to report a beige Ford truck had crashed on their property, striking a boulder, the sheriff’s office reported. The suspects then fled into the woods on foot.

At about 7:50 a.m., deputies found Port Orchard resident Jennifer K. Spencer, 31, and Port Orchard resident Lance G. Smith, 35, walking nearby. A neighborhood resident identified Spencer and Smith as being with Klepps that morning, the sheriff’s office reported. Spencer and Smith were both arrested for first degree theft and booked into Clallam County Jail.

At 9:42 p.m., responding to a report of two men running through property on the 400 block of Parrish Road, deputies arrested Klepps and a fourth suspect, 29-year-old Port Orchard resident Codey L. Cramer, the sheriff’s office said.

Cramer was arrested for first degree theft and obstructing a law enforcement officer. Klepps was arrested for eluding a police vehicle, resisting arrest, obstruction, hit-and-run unattended and first degree theft. Both were booked into Clallam County Jail.

The estimated value of the sawmill is between $40,000-$50,000, according to the sheriff’s office.