Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tip from citizen lands suspected burglar in jail

From staff reports
A citizen’s tip landed a suspected burglar in jail on Sunday in Spokane Valley. Jesse D. Montoya, 49, was arrested on suspicion of residential burglary and nine counts of theft after a citizen saw him and a boy enter a home on the 12700 block of East Broadway Avenue around 1:30 p.m. Spokane County sheriff’s deputies went to the address and saw the boy standing inside the living room. The boy waved at a deputy, a news release from the sheriff’s office said. Deputies found a window on the back side of the home broken out. Deputies saw the man, later identified as Montoya, and the boy walking south across Broadway carrying a box. When asked where he got the box, which had the address of the residence written on it, Montoya told deputies a “guy down the street gave it to him,” the release said. When deputies handcuffed and searched Montoya, they found nine credit and debit cards and an expired Washington driver’s license in his front pants pocket that did not belong to him, the release said. Montoya said he “bought them from a guy on Craigslist.” Asked again where he got the box he was carrying, he said he bought it from a friend named “Mike Seymore.” He continued to deny he or the boy had entered the home, although the boy said they had. The boy was not arrested “due to his young age,” the release said. When contacted, the owner of the residence said he did not know Montoya and had not given him permission to enter his home.