Oak Harbor police are on the lookout for Christopher and Abigail.
Detective Carl Seim apprehended a suspected drug-dealing Grinch last week and confiscated several gift-wrapped Christmas presents from the suspect’s car.
Also found in the vehicle were burglary tools and other stolen property, according to Seim.
Seim and Jennifer Yzaguirre, the police department’s community service officer, are trying to identify the intended recipients and return the presents.
So far, they haven’t had any luck.
The four presents are addressed to “Christopher” and to “Abigail.” The tags identify the gift givers as “grandpa and grandma,” “Uncle Johnny and Shannon” and “Uncle Don and Alex.”
Seim said he’s pretty sure the unopened gifts don’t belong to the apparent childless suspect, Oak Harbor resident Shane Larsen, 42.
Seim said he opened a couple of the packages — in case Larsen was using gift wrap to disguise something nefarious. Inside were children’s books.
Seim cracked the case while he was helping the patrol division. He was in a police car on State Highway 20 when he spotted a vehicle he recognized and decided to follow it.
Seim said he recognized the driver, Larsen, and stopped him on suspicion of driving while his license was suspended. Seim said he recognized Larsen was a “meth dealer” from a previous case.
The detective searched Larsen and found a plastic bag containing suspected methamphetamine in his pants pocket. He arrested Larsen and had the car towed to the police department. Seim searched the car after securing a warrant.
Inside, Seim said he found the Christmas presents and a duffel bag containing a coin collection. He found information about the owner in the collection. The coins belong to a Coupeville man who lost it in a burglary in November.
The collection includes ancient Roman and Greek coins.
The owner values it at more than $30,000. Some of the coins are missing.
Seim said he can’t guess why Larsen was holding on to the coins.
“I guess he didn’t realize what he had,” he said. “It’s common for drug dealers to trade meth for stolen property.”
Larsen was booked into jail on suspicion of possession of stolen property and possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine. He’s being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Seim said the bail amount is especially high because Larsen was charged in another meth-related case this past fall.
According to the detective, Navy security found Larsen in a car parked suspiciously at the CPO Club on Sept. 24. The officers stopped him after he pulled forward and hit a parked truck.
The officers said they noticed burglary tools “in plain view” and searched Larsen.
The officers pulled a syringe out of his pocket and a plastic bag of suspected meth fell on the ground, according to Seim.
The Navy asked Seim, a drug enforcement officer, to take over the case. He said a golf-ball-sized chunk of meth was found inside Larsen’s car.
Larsen was charged in the case, but it hasn’t been resolved.
