Deputies use game cameras to catch crooks, not deer

GRAYS HARBOR -- Sheriff's deputies dispatched to the scene of a burglary used some crafty thinking combined with hunting cameras to catch the crooks hours after the caper, the Aberdeen Daily World reported Tuesday.

According to the Daily World, Grays Harbor sheriff's deputies were dispatched to a burglary around 11 p.m. Friday in the Copalis Rock neighborhood. The burglary suspects were long gone, but while canvassing the neighborhood, deputies found a stash of stolen items taken from multiple properties on a wooded trail.

Victims called to stash confirmed the goods were taken from their homes. 

But rather than release the items to their rightful owners immediately, the deputies decided to set up game cameras around the stolen goods in hopes the thieves would come back to the woods to dump more stuff or pickup their haul.  

A short time later -- just as predicted -- three suspects came to the spot and attempted to pick up the items.  Deputies were able to use the pictures from the game cameras to identify a 26-year-old Ocean Shores man, a 37-year-old Hoquiam woman and a 20-year-old Elma man who appeared to root through the stuff. They were arrested under suspicion of burglary. 

The majority of the stashed items were then returned to their owners.

Deputies encouraged other Grays Harbor residents who had been burglarized recently to call 911.