Habitat for Humanity home burglarized, 'They knew who they were stealing from'

MARYSVILLE -- Thieves broke into a Habitat for Humanity home that was under construction not just once, but twice.

They got away with expensive power tools and even some home appliances.

“They cut the lock fixture off of this and then inside there they found keys,” said John Budd with Habitat for Humanity of Snohomish County.

Those keys got the crooks into the storage sheds where all the tools are kept on site, but getting into the house wasn’t so easy.

“There’s three pry marks there,” said Budd pointing to a damaged windowsill.

In the first burglary on Thursday the crooks got inside through a window.

But the boot print on the front door shows they found a quicker way in over the weekend. Volunteers found the front door of the home wide open.

“This has been a community project for us and a lot of people have put a lot of hours into it,” said Budd. “It’ more upsetting for them that somebody would steal from the organization and not realize where they’re stealing from.”

Once the thieves got inside they stole a brand new refrigerator and dryer.

“It’s money we’ll have to raise again and unfortunately instead of it going to this build or future build its going to tools and fixing damage,” Budd added.

The thieves also got away with expensive tools from the locked storage sheds.

“The tools were clearly marked,” Budd said. “They knew who they were stealing from.”

Budd hopes whoever was responsible for the thefts will do the right thing and turn themselves in to police.

“It could have been someone that, had they chose the right path, would have been a future homeowner with us,” he said. “Now they find themselves where they are and hopefully they’ll do the right thing and turn themselves in.”

The organization is out around $5,000 in damages and stolen property.

Thankfully the family who is scheduled to move into the home won’t be delayed because of the crimes.

Habitat for Humanity is looking at ways to beef up security so something like this doesn’t happen again.

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For anyone interested in making a donatioin, here is a link from Habitat for Humanity's Facebook page:

November 22
Sadly, we are reporting theft and vandalism at the home construction site in Marysville. Approximately $2500 in tools and supplies, in addition to a refrigerator and dryer, were stolen from our locked storage shed on site. It is very disheartening for our families, volunteers and supporters. If you would like to make a donation to help replace the items last, please visit our online donation page linked below and enter "Altena Gardens Theft" in the comments field.

https://habitatsno.z2systems.com/np/clients/habitatsno/donation.jsp