A 46-year-old man was sentenced to just over 3.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to involvement in an April 2022 home invasion on Kickerville Road where the homeowner was held at gunpoint while two other people raided his house.
Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Robert Olson sentenced Crayton Todd Williams, of Bellingham, on April 11 to 43 months for second-degree burglary, which was the highest point in the standard sentence range for his criminal history. Williams will serve the term concurrently with another case in which he pled guilty to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.
Williams faced a maximum term of 10 years in prison and/or $20,000 fine for the burglary charge.
As part of the plea deal, Williams had four counts of firearm theft dropped from the case and his original charge of first-degree burglary was reduced. The plea deal also dropped nine charges from the case where he pled guilty to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon in 2022, as well as dropping a possession of stolen vehicle charge from 2021 and a failure to register as a sex offender charge from 2020.
On April 11, 2022, a man called 911 at 11:20 p.m. to report he had just been robbed at gunpoint at his home in the 8000 block of Kickerville Road in Birch Bay.
The man told police that two women were knocking on his front door and, when he opened the door, said they were having vehicle troubles and asked to use his phone, according to the charging documents filed in Whatcom County Superior Court. The man led the women to his kitchen and went to retrieve his cellphone, but the women had disappeared by the time he returned. The homeowner began looking for the women but was stopped by a man who pointed a gun at the homeowner and ordered him to lay on the ground, according to court records.
The man held the homeowner at gunpoint and asked the homeowner where his guns were while the two women raided the home, according to court records. The group stole $500 cash, older firearms, a laptop, cellphone, TV and jewelry that had belonged to the homeowner’s late wife, charging documents state.
The homeowner described the women as covering their faces with cloth masks and the man’s entire face was covered. The man told police at least one woman was armed.
A Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) detective found a water bottle left by one of the suspects in one of the ransacked rooms and sent it to Washington State Patrol to be processed for DNA evidence.
A WCSO deputy spoke with a store clerk at a nearby gas station and learned a woman bought a pair of gloves and a man wearing a ski mask purchased hose tape, a pair of gloves and a water bottle the night of the robbery. The WCSO detective reviewing the gas station surveillance video observed three people who fit descriptions that the homeowner provided and another man who was driving the group in a black Dodge Ram pickup truck.
Court records show WCSO identified the names of the driver and one of the women, but WCSO spokesperson Deb Slater wrote in an email to The Northern Light that probable cause was not developed to arrest anyone besides Williams in the case.
The DNA on the water bottle was connected to Williams in February 2023, and WCSO obtained a search warrant to retrieve a second sample from Williams to confirm the DNA match. WCSO learned the reference sample was a DNA match on April 23, 2023 and Williams was charged May 22, 2023 for first-degree burglary and four counts of firearm theft.
Williams had remained in jail since April 24, 2022, when he was arrested for second-degree assault with a deadly weapon while allegedly attempting to elude police on I-5 in Bellingham. He was transported to Washington Corrections Center in Shelton on April 16, according to jail booking data.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here