UPDATE | Alleged serial burglar stops fight against extradition, expected to return to Washington this week

Published 3:26 pm Monday, September 8, 2014

The man accused of being the serial burglar who left a trail of burglarized homes across Bainbridge Island this spring is no longer fighting extradition to Washington state.

Bainbridge Island Police Chief Matthew Hamner said two Bainbridge police officers will travel this week to Roanoke, Virginia to take custody of Jason Michael Lucas.

An arrest warrant was issued for Lucas, 34, last month. Authorities claim Lucas is responsible for more than two dozen residential burglaries this spring on Bainbridge Island.

Lucas was arrested Aug. 25 by the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, a group under the direction of the U.S. Marshal Service that apprehends the most violent and dangerous fugitives in the Washington, D.C. area, Maryland and Virginia.

Lucas remains in custody in the Roanoke City Jail.

“He has now waived extradition instead of fighting it,” Hamner said Monday. “We’ve just been notified by them that we have a week to come and pick him up.”

Hamner said two Bainbridge officers who have been trained in prisoner escorts by the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration will fly to Virginia later this week to retrieve Lucas.

It may be a two-day trip and is expected to cost the city thousands of dollars.

Those costs, however, should be viewed in the peace of mind the conclusion of the case will bring to Bainbridge residents, Hamner said.

“This was the largest burglary crime wave that any of the officers can remember since Bainbridge Island has been a city,” Hamner said.

“Bringing peace to victims is part of what officers do,” he said. “Our job, I think, is to help them feel comfortable again and go on with their lives.”

Hamner also noted that Lucas is the suspect in an April 16 burglary in the 500 block of Park Avenue, “a very terrifying event.”

The front door of the home had been left unlocked, and a 22-year-old woman was inside when Lucas, according to police, entered the home.

When the woman heard someone in the house, she grabbed a cell phone and locked herself in a bathroom and called 911.

“This is the same individual who kicked in a bathroom door with that young girl in the bathroom,” Hamner recalled.

Lucas allegedly forced the door open to the bathroom where the young woman was hiding, saw her and turned and fled the residence with stolen jewelry.

Now with a witness to one of the break-ins, Bainbridge police brought in a sketch artist to come up with an illustration of the intruder.

The sketch was later shared with the media, and Hamner said it was key to stopping the string of burglaries.

Only one additional burglary was reported within 48 hours of the release of the sketch.

“I don’t think it’s far-fetched to believe that he viewed himself in that sketch and realized, ‘They are on to me,'” Hamner said of Lucas.

“I’m very confident that that was what caused him to stop,” he said.