Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Teen's self-portrait on stolen phone provided clues to burglary

Police continue investigation, looking for a second suspect

• By: Michelle Te  
• Published: 1/7/2010 4:14:30 PM

A 15-year-old Wilsonville male who allegedly took photos of himself with a stolen cell phone was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with first-degree burglary.

He is accused of stealing the cell phone, along with several electronic and personal items, on the night of Dec. 27 from a Wilsonville home. The photos were automatically uploaded to a server, which the victimized homeowner could access.
 
The teen was lodged in the Donald E. Long juvenile detention center in Portland. He appeared in juvenile court Thursday.

Clackamas County Sheriff’s detectives are continuing the investigation, believing there is at least one more suspect.

“We recovered a few of the stolen items,” said Det. Jeff Green of the Wilsonville Police Department. “But we have reason to believe there is at least one, if not more, involved. Our investigation is continuing.”
Green said he does not believe the burglaries are gang-related.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of breaking into a home in the 10500 block of S.W. Brockway in Wilsonville. A window screen had been cut and the homeowner woke up to find muddy footprints on his kitchen floor and carpeting. 

Green would not comment on how the police conducted the investigation, but another homeowner provided more details.

Steve Scott, president of the Morey’s Landing homeowners association, said that during the burglary, the thieves stole the homeowners’ cell phones.

According to a police report, made available by the Wilsonville police, those phones were two Motorola Android cell phones, with a combined value of $600.

Scott said he believes the suspect took the cell phone back home and began taking pictures of himself, possible with another suspect.

Unbeknownst to the teen, the clandestine photos automatically uploaded to the homeowner’s server soon after the photos were taken. The thieves apparently had burglarized the Wilsonville home in the early morning hours of Dec. 28, most likely just after the homeowners had retired to bed.

The phones had been sitting on the kitchen counter when the thieves broke in through a sliding glass door of the newer, two-story home.

“Two of the cell phones, one of them had a program where every day, at midnight, the photos upload to a server,” said Scott. “These guys took pictures of themselves, which then were uploaded. Four of the pictures were good enough that you could see them.”

Scott had wanted the photos published in the Wilsonville Spokesman, hoping that someone might either recognize the suspects or their surroundings.

But even before the newspaper could publish the photos, Wilsonville police had issued a search warrant for a suspect, who subsequently was arrested Wednesday.

Scott said police told him the teen lives in an apartment complex near Morey’s Landing. There is easy access, he said, to the neighborhood through a greenway.

The victims in this burglary have a home that backs up to the greenway. It’s easy, said Scott, to sit in the bushes undetected. He believes the suspect, and possibly others, have been watching homes in the neighborhood, observing the homeowners’ comings and goings.

Read more about this developing story in an upcoming issue of the Wilsonville Spokesman.


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