Oak Harbor police officers used a drone to search a house for a suspected intruder last month, but the burglar was eventually found hiding in a crawl space, according to court documents.
The suspect, 29-year-old Kayla M. Chase, is now wanted on a $5,000 bench warrant after she failed to show for a Jan. 27 court hearing. Prosecutors charged her in Island County Superior Court Jan. 10 with residential burglary and theft in the third degree. Both counts were charged as domestic violence related.
The police report states that officers responded to a house on Southwest Judson Drive on Jan. 8 after a resident reported that he got home and saw someone inside the residence. A male burglar, who police were not able to find or identify, fled out the garage door when he saw the resident.
Officers arrived and surrounded the house in case anyone else was still inside. A drone operator arrived on scene and and used the unmanned aerial vehicle to search both levels of the house, but nobody was found. Four officers went into the house and did a secondary sweep.
Officers then located a crawl space access door on the outside of the house. While crawling around, the officers located an individual, later identified as Chase, hiding inside, the police report states.
The report indicates that Chase is an ex-girlfriend of one of the roommates and was familiar with the house.
The resident told police that a Nintendo Switch, an Xbox and three Funko Pops were missing from his room.