Squeaky floor trips up suspects

A squeaky hardwood floor tipped off employees of Mic-N-Mac’s bar to a break-in at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall Thursday morning.

After hearing the creaking of the hardwood dance floor above the bar at the VFW, the employees called police who nabbed two suspects just after 2:30 a.m.

Christopher Adam Barnfather, 23, of Fairchild Air Force Base, and 21-year-old Andrew Lee Wilson, of Coeur d’Alene, were arrested and booked into Kootenai County Jail.

The men allegedly kicked in the glass front door to the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, said VFW officer Don Riegel.

“If you walk across the floor, it squeaks real bad,” said Riegel, who spent the morning sweeping up broken glass.

The tongue-and-groove hardwood floor was installed in the 1920s, Riegel said. Dust has worked into the cracks and makes the floor extra creaky, he said.

After police arrived on scene, the burglary suspects attempted to flee.

Riegel said one suspect broke out a back window, apparently saw there was a 20-foot drop to the ground below, and smashed another window instead. He said the man bailed out that window but was caught by police less than a block away.

The other suspect was apprehended as he came down the front stairs, Riegel said.

Police initially said there may have been additional people involved in the attempted burglary, but Sgt. Christie Wood said later there were no additional suspects.

Nothing was taken from the VFW hall, but damage to the door and windows was estimated at about $1,000. Riegel said the hall includes a “museum,” but the collection was undisturbed.