Bizarre burglary: Thieves make slow getaway on a stolen tractor

OLALLA, Wash. -- A bizarre string of burglaries in the same day has neighbors on one Olalla street scratching their heads in disbelief.

Thieves targeted the home of Richard McCoy.  They ransacked his house and then went after his $17,000 tractor that was parked in his garage.  The burglars couldn't get the garage door open so they just drove the tractor straight through it.

"l'm sure they got frustrated and can't get the door open, so they started the tractor and they drove it out and just made one helluva mess and, I'm sure, a lot of noise," McCoy said Thursday.

This is where the story takes a strange turn.  Instead of driving the tractor up McCoy's driveway, the thief drove around to the backside of the home and continued on to the woods nearby.

"Went over a rock wall, through two fences, my garden, dragging the rest of my garage door," McCoy said.

McCoy explained he was only gone from home for little more than an hour when all of this took place.

He arrived home and went looking for the tractor, following the trail of destruction into the woods.

McCoy eventually found the tractor sitting on its side some 600 feet away from his home and down a steep hillside.

"He tore some of the lines out, so all the oil and hydraulic fluid drained out.  I don't know how I am gonna get it out of here," McCoy said.

The burglars also stole several items from inside the house.  McCoy found some of his possessions deep in the woods.  He's looking at nearly $25,000 in damage.

McCoy is just one of at least three homes hit in the neighborhood.  Just next door, the homeowner discovered a riding lawn mower sitting in the front lawn.  It turns out the thieves drove it down the street to get to the homes.

The Kitsap County Sheriffs Office is investigating.