Selected reports from the Bainbridge Island Police Department blotter.

SATURDAY, MAY 20

7:01 p.m. Police responded to a report of trespassing and burglary at a home on Madison Avenue.

The caller, a woman who is caretaker for the property owner, who was not there, had returned to the home after having left earlier to find three men inside, with the screen pried off one of the windows.

The woman knew one of the men, who she had met earlier that day. She also recognized one of the other men, as both of them had previously stopped by after she had created a post online offering to allow people to come to the home and take whatever belongings had been left behind after the owner’s recent move.

A lone woman came by to peruse what was available first. Then, at about 12:30 p.m., two men, one of whom was the boyfriend of the first woman to visit. The caretaker offered that man $15 an hour to help her remove property from the residence, which he accepted.

She did not, she said, make the same offer to the woman or the man’s friend, as they “were not being as helpful.”

The trio were at the home until 4 p.m., when the caretaker said she had to lock up the property and leave. The man who she had offered $15 an hour to asked if he could come back in the future and look through the rest of the stuff. The woman said yes, if she was around, and told him he could help himself also to anything outside, and, while she was there, bring things he wanted from inside and leave them outside to be picked up later.

The trio gathered the things they’d selected and left. The caretaker locked the property and departed as well.

At about 6:45 p.m. the woman got a call from the property’s landlord, who said three men were inside. Upon returning with the landlord, the caretaker found the window pried open and the two men from earlier, plus another, in the home.

The man who the caretaker had offered to pay $15 an hour to assist her immediately, she said, began to apologize and ask if it was “OK” that they were in the house. She said it was not, and ordered the men outside and called the police.

The caretaker also found that two firearms she’d left hidden in the closet were now in the garage. She had not told any of the visitors about the weapons before.

The property owner elected not to press charges, as she was interested in expediting the emptying of the house so it could be sold.