"Dumbest Criminal", The Worst of 194 Benton County Weekend Calls

The Benton County Sheriff's Office handled 194 calls for service this past weekend alone, but one takes the cake for the weekend's dumbest criminal.

The weekend for Benton County Sheriff's deputies was full of in-progress calls, cold reports, reckless driving complaints, and self-initiated incidents resulting in multiple arrests. 194 calls in a single weekend is a big workload for any department.

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One success: Deputy McMillan spent 13 hours tracking down a theft suspect through two counties. Turns out, the suspect fell right into the deputies' hands.

Benton County Sheriff's Deputies Investigating Stolen Property

One Benton County resident reported stolen property. Evidence pointed out of Benton County to Sunnyside in Yakima County, where investigators found their suspect.

Benton County Sheriff's Deputy McMillan tried to locate the suspect two nights in a row.

The first attempt was unsuccessful, but they came back the second night, this time with another deputy. They also had a search warrant application in progress for the suspect's residence, where they knew stolen property was being held.

Then the suspect drove past his own house while two deputies were standing outside applying for a search warrant. Yes, of course they noticed him.

The Traffic Stop That Wrapped It Up

Deputies paused the search warrant application and initiated a traffic stop on the suspect. They then arrested him for theft in the second degree, which is a Class C felony.

After the arrest, a Superior Court judge reviewed and approved the search warrant. Deputy McMillan served warrants on both the suspect's vehicle and the family residence and recovered the victim's stolen property.

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It took 13 hours of investigative work across two counties for that single theft case. In fact, the case only ended as quickly as it did because the suspect drove by. It should have taken much longer.

There was also a second suspect identified during the investigation. Both suspects are in custody and being held in the Benton County Correctional Center.