Man arrested after attempt to steal gasoline at the Tumwater School District bus barn 

In the early hours of May 12, officers from the Tumwater Police Department (TPD) responded to a reported burglary at the Tumwater School District bus barn located on 80th Avenue SW.  

On-duty security staff spotted two individuals inside the facility’s perimeter fence through security cameras. 

The suspects, described as two males wearing dark hoods and dark facemasks, were seen near the fuel depot, tampering with hoses and stealing gasoline from parked vans.  

“One subject was wearing a gray hoodie over black Adidas sweatpants with three distinct white lines running down the side of the pants. The other subject appeared to be wearing dark coveralls,” the TPD responding officer stated in the police report. 

They were observed carrying empty fuel cans and cutting fuel lines before leaving the camera's view. 

Upon arrival, TPD officers, assisted by a K9 unit from the Olympia Police Department (OPD), established a perimeter and conducted a thorough search.  

Evidence found included a fresh hole in the fence and several staged gas cans, along with tin snips likely used to cut the fence. 

The K9 unit tracked the suspects through a wooded area, leading to two parked vehicles a short distance away, an older white Ford Bronco and a gold Chevrolet Blazer. 

The four individuals in the vehicles were detained and questioned. 

Initially, they did not match the descriptions from the security footage and were released. 

However, an officer noticed that one of the people, Jonathan Hand, was wearing his gray sweatpants backwards. 

Upon checking, it was revealed that Hand was wearing sweatpants matching the description of one suspect’s clothing seen in the footage.  

“The suspect had been wearing black Adidas sweatpants with white stripes down the side of them. The suspect was also wearing a gray hoodie. Without the gray sweatpants over the top of the black Adidas sweatpants, Jonathan matched the clothing description of the suspect in the footage,” the responding officer further stated. 

Ten yards away from the vehicles, one of the officers found four fuel cans that were full of fuel.  

The suspect, Hand, was arrested and was brought to Thurston County Jail for second-degree burglary. 

The bus barn security checked the area and saw fuel lines of three white vans were cut with $433 worth of damage, and approximately 30 gallons of gasoline were stolen.