Alleged serial burglar charged with theft of tree-climbing gear

Published 1:55 pm Friday, September 12, 2014

The man accused of being Bainbridge Island’s serial burglar has been charged in Kitsap County District Court with the felony theft of rental property.

Jason Michael Lucas, 33, of Kingston was charged with the crime after police alleged he failed to return tree-climbing equipment that he had rented from Advanced Rentals and Sales in Poulsbo.

The gear was described as a Weaver tree-climbing set that included a belt, spurs, flipline, rope grab and bag valued at $600, and 150 feet of safety rope with a rope grab that was valued at $200.

Lucas leased the gear on Oct 26, 2013 for one day.

On Dec. 4, 2013, the rental company sent Lucas a “demand letter” asking that he return the equipment, but the letter was returned unclaimed.

In a January email to police, the rental company said Lucas refused to return the equipment and hung up the phone whenever the company called him about the gear.

Conviction of theft of rental property carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Lucas was booked into Kitsap County Jail earlier this week after being extradited from Virginia to face residential burglary charges in Kitsap County.

Bainbridge police said earlier that Lucas fled Washington after police had obtained fingerprints, DNA evidence and witness statements that indicated he was responsible for a string of home burglaries on Bainbridge Island this spring.

Lucas is believed to be the serial burglar responsible for 25 burglaries reported earlier this year in Kitsap County, with 24 of the break-ins on Bainbridge. He was earlier convicted for a string of burglaries at homes in Kingston, Hansville and Bainbridge Island in 2009 where he worked as a landscaper.

Police have said Lucas is a tree service worker who has been known to wear work boots.

Bainbridge officers found boot prints in the flower bed outside the window of a rental unit on NE Kono Road that was burglarized on March 14, and a woman whose home on Sunrise Place NE that was burglarized on March 20 said Lucas has been on her property in the past to trim trees.