Eight Teens Arrested In Cabin

Eight teenagers from Spokane were arrested Thursday morning after a man found them asleep in his Lake Coeur d’Alene cabin.

One of the teens told Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies they had been staying in the Sun Up Bay cabin for two days, Sgt. Ray Danly said. Schools in Spokane are on spring break this week.

The cabin’s owner, who was not identified, came to the cabin Thursday morning, presumably to prepare it for use this summer. He noticed three strange cars parked in front and went inside. “He found sleeping juveniles and a big mess,” Danly said.

The man quietly left the cabin and called deputies, who arrested five boys and three girls for investigation of burglary. The teens, all either 16 or 17, were booked into the Kootenai County Juvenile Detention Center.

They were being questioned late Thursday to determine what charges each might face. The severity of the charges will determine which teens are released to their parents and which youths are held in juvenile detention, Danly said.

One of the teens was wanted on a Spokane felony arrest warrant for a probation violation.

Food stored in the cabin appeared to have been eaten during the teens’ stay and other supplies were used, deputies said. The teens also may have used the cabin owner’s telephone card to make long-distance calls and may have drunk alcohol stored in the cabin, Danly said.

Garbage littered the cabin when deputies arrived.

It is not known how long the teens intended to stay or why they had chosen that particular cabin, which is six miles north of Worley. Often, seasonally used cabins are picked out at random by burglars.

“Any residence that is left uninhabited, you’re prone to burglaries,” Danly said.

Three sheriff’s deputies, a Bureau of Land Management agent and an Idaho State Police officer assisted in the arrests, which were made without incident.

No other nearby cabins appeared to have been burglarized.