With one arrest, the Montesano Police Department says it solved at least four crimes in the county, including the theft of components that led to the cancellation last month of the last weekend of Jingle Lights in Fleet Park.
Montesano Police Chief Brett Vance said Monday that they had arrested a 37-year-old Montesano man after receiving tips.
On Dec. 21, people preparing for the final few showings of the popular light display, which was set to music, discovered that several components were missing, including an Ethernet switch, a signal decoder with a power supply and an alpha fix controller, all of which control the music or lighting of the show.
The remainder of the shows, which would have helped raise funds for the Montesano Co-Op Preschool were canceled, and surveillance footage was reviewed by police.
The footage showed somebody taking the equipment, Vance said, but police couldn’t identify a suspect. Police also suspect the suspect of vandalizing the restrooms in the park.
After receiving tips on a suspect, a search warrant was served early Dec. 28 in the Hidden Valley Trailer Park in Montesano. From information obtained in that search, police were able to write two more search warrants for two additional Montesano properties. Those search warrants were served in the afternoon Dec. 28. Some of the stolen Jingle Lights equipment was recovered in an industrial tote at one of the properties.
On Jan. 8, officials received notice from a Central Park-area homeowner of found property. At that residence, officials recovered more of the stolen equipment.
“We got everything but the Ethernet switch,” Vance said. “Every (Montesano Police) officer had some part in this arrest.”
He said the suspect would be charged with theft of the Jingle Lights components, malicious mischief in the vandalism of the bathrooms, possession of and trafficking in stolen property from a burglary in Hoquiam, and a vehicle prowl on Dec. 14, the night of Festival of Lights parade, when some camera equipment was stolen from a car. That equipment also was recovered.
