Men Accused Of Burglarizing Car Parked On Impound Lot One Suspect Says The Other Had Planned To Steal Drugs Hidden In Impounded Camaro

Two men have been charged with burglary after allegedly breaking a window on a car locked inside the sheriff’s department’s vehicle impound yard.

A deputy heard the breaking glass early Thursday and thought he heard gunshots coming from the yard adjacent to the sheriff’s office on Government Way.

The deputy saw a man dressed in black scale the chain-link fence and run from the yard with another man who had been standing outside.

Deputies used a sheriff’s dog to track one of the men to a backhoe that was parked near the yard. The man, identified by deputies as Shane R. Warmington, fled through a used-car lot and later was arrested in a wooded area behind Cenex.

An Idaho State Police officer arrested Jeremiah L. Stephens near Fourth and Best.

Warmington, 20, and Stephens, 19, both of Coeur d’Alene, are being held in the Kootenai County Jail on burglary charges.

Deputies allege Stephens broke the window on a 1985 Chevrolet Camaro being held in the impound yard by the local drug task force.

Warmington told deputies he met Stephens at a party. Warmington said Stephens told him that police had his car in the impound yard and the 20-year-old wanted to retrieve drugs that were inside, according to a sheriff’s report.

Warmington agreed to go with Stephens to the impound yard and waited outside while the 19-year-old broke the car’s window, the report said. Stephens took a yellow bag out of the car and threw it over the fence when deputies arrived, the report said.

Deputies said they found methamphetamine in Warmington’s sweat pants pocket and a baggie of marijuana he allegedly dropped.

The car is being held as evidence in a felony drug case. Deputies believe Stephens, who previously was jailed on an unrelated charge, was in the same group of cells as the suspect in the drug case.

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