A string of apartment burglaries led police to a marijuana growing operation after the theft suspects admitted to stealing hydroponic grow equipment.

William F. Searight, 22, is to be arraigned today on charges related to nine burglaries at Spokane Valley apartment complexes in March.

Jonothan A. Delay, 19,  is also charged with two of those burglaries and is due in Superior Court this afternoon..

The men also are accused of a Feb. 17 burglary at Spokane Organic & Hydroponic, 4823 E. Sprague.

Spokane County Sheriff's Office detectives say Searight targeted flat-screen televisions in the apartment burglaries. Surveillance video from one complex showed a dark Toyota Four-Runner with a bulldog decal in the back window; detectives identified the truck's owner as Searight's brother, who told them Delay or Searight had driven the vehicle, according to court documents.

Detectives searched a home at 5069 Rail Canyon Road in Springdale in April and found Searight, who they say confessed to committing the apartment burglaries.

"Searight had an accomplice which he refused to name, but identified him as a young kid with minimal criminal history," according to a search warrant.

The next day, after a short chase, police arrested Delay for a burglary at Allied Building Supplies, 2808 E. Boone Ave.

Delay reportedly admitted to detectives that he'd burgled the grow shop for marijuana grow equipment, and that he'd stolen chainsaws from Country Home Power, 5323 E. Sprague, as well as a stealing as guns and a  200-gallon fuel pump tank from a property in Whitman County,a according to a search warrant.

Delay said he sold stolen items to 19-year-old Dustin W.  Riggles, and that he had a "shopping list" of marijuana grow items to steal for a woman police identified as Allison E. Hubbard, 29, accoridng to court documents.

Police searched Hubbard's home at 106045 E. 6th and dismantled a marijuana  growing operation. She's charged with manufacturing a controlled substance. Her sister, Marcy D. Hubbard, 28, is charged with two counts of first-degree trafficking in stolen property. Delay and Riggles face the same charge.

Delay also is charged with two counts of second-degree burglary and two counts of second-degree theft, and Searight faces 10 counts of second-degree burglary and eight counts of second-degree theft. Charges were filed July 30.

Both men, who are in jail, also are charged with one count of residential burglary and two counts of possession of a stolen firearm.

• Feb. 17: Spokane Organic & Hydroponic, 4823 E. Sprague (Delay and Searight)
• Feb. 20: residential burglary, 8000 block of E. Utah (Delay and Searight)
• March 9: Forest Creek Apartments, 13100 N. Addison
• March 13: Country Homes Power Equipment, 5323 E. Sprague (Delay and Searight)
• March 13: Graymayre Crossing Apartments, 636 E. Magnesium
• March 13: Sullivan Court Apartments, 511 S. Sullivan
• March 18: Oakwood Club Apartments, 726 N. McDonald
• March 18: Montgomery Court Apartments, 2301 N. Wilbur
• March 18: River Rock Apartments, 12721 E. Shannon
• March 18: Pasadena Ridge Apartments, 4710 N. Pasadena Lane
• March 18: Whimsical Pig Apartments, 13303 E. Mission

 

---

---