WASHINGTON COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTkomo news | More Local News : UPDATE: Dept. Of Corrections Car Found; Gun, Badge Still MissingUPDATE: Dept. Of Corrections Car Found; Gun, Badge Still Missing

February 23, 2005

By Bryan Johnson

MOUNT VERNON - Mount Vernon police have located a stolen Department of Corrections car just outside the city on Highway 9 early Thursday morning. However, several critical items remain missing.

Mount Vernon police say some time between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, a burglar climbed through an unlocked window and into a bathroom of the State Department of Corrections Community Corrections Office.

The man in charge there, Joel Eskes, told KOMO 4 News a community corrections officer came to work Wednesday morning and noticed that her badge and identification were both missing.

A later check showed several laptop computers were taken from offices in the downtown Mount Vernon building, along with several bullet-proof vests and a handgun that was locked in a lockbox.

Eskes says only one of the correction officers normally carries a gun and it was locked per department policy in the lockbox that was taken.

He added that up to 30 people visit the office every day and it would have been relatively simple for someone to have gone into the bathroom and release the lock on the window that opens up onto an almost hidden alley between two buildings. That lock now has permanently closed.

The corrections office is located just two blocks from the Skagit County Sheriff's office, and used to be located close to the Mount Vernon police department, which recently moved to a spot in north Mount Vernon.

Roger Sayer, an accountant in an office next door, says since that move there are fewer police cars in the area and he had even had a burglar alarm installed.

Sayer says he was surprised that the state didn't have an alarm.

Eskes said he's requested two bids from alarm firms, but he made those request after the burglary.

Anyone who has information about the burglary is asked to call police at 360-336-6271 or 911.