Burglary suspect arrested after two-hour manhunt

Published 3:57 pm Thursday, April 7, 2011

An anonymous tip to the Bainbridge Island Police Department led to the arrests Thursday of two men, including a 24-year-old Poulsbo man who led the police on a two-hour chase through the Battle Point area.

Bainbridge Island Police Cmdr. Sue Shultz said the department was notified Thursday morning that a burglary suspect was hiding out in the home of Mark Kaufman, a Bainbridge Island resident who was wanted on a Department of Corrections warrant.

Shultz said Kaufman, who was living in a house on the 9000 block of Miller Road, answered the door but the suspect, Jonathan Ascarate, fled through the back door and into the woods.

Police gave chase but couldn’t locate Ascarate, who initially hid out in a residence in the Battle Point area, Schultz said. Officers from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department and Suquamish Police also assisted in the search.

Ascarate, who had a Kitsap County first-degree warrant out for arrest, was eventually cornered and then bitten by a county K-9 unit. Shultz said the suspect suffered a dislocated shoulder when he fell down an embankment and then hid in a thicket of bamboo before being located by the dog.

Schultz said Ascarate, who was not armed, was treated at Harrison Medical Center and then taken to Kitsap County Jail in Port Orchard. Shultz said he also had warrants out for his arrest involving crimes in California, Seattle and Poulsbo.

Kaufman was arrested at his residence and turned over to the state Department of Corrections.