Oak Harbor church burglar sent to prison

A 24-year-old Oak Harbor man responsible for a series of burglaries in the city last fall was sent to prison.

Joshua Brewer pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court March 12 to charges in four different cases.

Under the plea bargain, all the sentences will run concurrently. Brewer will be behind bars for the length of the longest of the prison sentences, which is five years and seven months.

Brewer was accused of burglarizing three Oak Harbor churches — the Lutheran, Living Word Fellowship and Family Bible churches — during three consecutive nights last November.

In that case, prosecutors charged Brewer with three counts of burglary in the second degree, theft in the first degree, possession of stolen property in the second degree, and two counts of identity theft in the second degree.

On March 12, Brewer pleaded guilty to single counts of burglary in the second degree, theft in the first degree and identity theft in the second degree.

In another case, Brewer burglarized four units at the Mini Storage on Highway 20 in Oak Harbor Aug. 15, court documents show. He pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and first-degree theft.

Brewer also broke into a Northview Road home and ransacked it Oct. 24. He pleaded guilty to residential burglary, the most serious of all the charges.

In the last case, Brewer pleaded guilty to identity theft in the second degree.