Hoquiam, WA - The Hoquiam police are investigating a burglary that took place at Grays Harbor Transit Authority, 700 block of 30th Street, sometime between 10:30 pm on Friday May 21st and 6:30 am on Saturday May 22, 2010.
An employee arrived for work at the transit facility to begin work and discovered that a number of the buses had been entered and the metal “vaults” (the metal lock boxes used to collect the fare from bus riders) had actually been removed from the buses. The boxes are described as being about 16” tall, by 5” wide and 6” deep. They are black in color with an assigned number written in white lettering on the front of the box. An example of the lettering is “X37.”
Investigation at the scene revealed that the suspect(s) apparently cut a chain link fence on the north side of the property to gain entrance into the parking area. Once inside the yard the suspect(s) entered 16 buses and either removed the metal vault completely or pried it open and removed the coins from the box. 12 of 16 vaults (boxes) were physically removed from the busses and from the property.
To remove the vaults from the area the suspect(s) apparently stole a white 1994 Chevrolet C2 Truck. The truck has the Washington state exempt license of 55849C. The truck has 4” block letters in red of the identification number “M14” on the front corner panels.
The suspect(s) apparently left the property by cutting off the padlock that secured the gate in the 3100 block of Bay Avenue.
At the time of this release the stolen vehicle and the stolen vaults have not been located. The value of the coins that were removed with the boxes is not known.
No suspects have been developed at this time. Anyone who has any information regarding the burglary, the stolen vaults or the stolen vehicle is asked to telephone Hoquiam detectives at 532-0892 Ext. 102.
UPDATE: 6/24/2010
The Hoquiam Police Department reports that on Sunday May 23, 2010 a Hoquiam officer received a telephone call from a concerned citizen regarding the burglary at Gray Harbor Transit. She told the officer that she owned some property on Greenwood Road (which is located off East Hoquiam Road in Grays Harbor County) and that he husband had been on the property on Saturday May 22nd when he discovered that someone had knocked down the cable gate that leads to the property. He had also discovered some metal cans, some nuts and bolts and an identification card in the name of a Grays Harbor
Transit employee. The person reporting this information to the officer had heard about the transit burglary.
The Hoquiam officer relayed the information to a Grays Harbor County deputy who responded to the location. While on the scene he located 9 of the 12 coin boxes that had been removed from the buses at the transit facility during the burglary. All the boxes had been forced open and the money removed. The boxes were turned over to the Hoquiam police for processing for evidence.
The surrounding area of where the boxes were discovered was searched but nothing else was found. The truck stolen during the burglary has not been located.
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