Police arrest man for burglary of grandfather's Electric City home

Police have arrested a 26-year-old local man suspected of burglarizing his grandparent’s Electric City home.

Grand Coulee police had been looking for him when someone called to say Michael Snyder II had been spotted at the Coulee Dam Casino.

Police arrested him there Monday and, after allowing him to finish his coffee and have a smoke, took him to the Grand Coulee police station, where investigators linked him to the burglary on Miller Avenue in Electric City, the home of his grandparents, Milton and Marcia Snyder.

They had been away at the time of the break-in, which occurred sometime between Dec. 25 and Dec. 27, 2015.

Police said they’d been looking for the younger Snyder after fingerprints lifted from a glass at the crime scene had been identified by the Washington State Crime Lab as his. Police received that report on Friday.

At his grandfather’s home, entry was gained by forcing a sliding door. Taken were a number of guns that were in a cabinet, which had been forced open.

When arrested at the casino, and after an evidence search, police say they found a pouch that contained smoking devices, one with a white substance. The pouch and smoking pipes are being sent to the state crime lab for analysis, which takes about 30 days.

Police are asking prosecutors to charge the suspect with burglary in the first degree.

Snyder’s trip to Grant County Jail Monday came several months after one to Okanogan County Jail last fall, when Coulee Dam police arrested him in connection with two burglaries at Riverview Lanes in Coulee Dam. In that case, Snyder was charged with second-degree trafficking in stolen goods, third-degree theft and third-degree possession of stolen property, according to Interim Police Chief Larry Hall.

The break-ins at the bowling alley were noticed by the owners at that time, Pat and Sara Zlateff, on Oct. 10 and Oct 22, 2015.

Police said Michael Snyder II had been identified by owners of Coulee Recycling when he tried to sell some brass fittings taken from Riverview Lanes. As required by a metal recycling law, Coulee Recycling had taken a photo of Snyder and of his driver’s license and also had him sign a receipt for the metal.

The brass netted Snyder $18.90, while owners of the bowling alley stated the specialized fittings actually cost $577. Also taken in the bowling burglaries were tools valued at over $2,000.

In the last two weeks, police have been investigating other reports implicating Snyder, including a tablet computer and money missed by a Grand Coulee man on March 3. A few days earlier he had been banned from Coulee Hardware after the owner said he’d taken items without paying for them. Police are asking the prosecutor to add theft to the other charges against him.

Coulee Dam police are also investigating an attempt to break into some soft drink machines at the Coulee House Motel. Snyder was recorded by a security camera messing with the locks on the machines, police say.

He was still in jail Tuesday night.