HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-12-16 Police Golf course burglar found guilty PORT TOWNSEND POLICE DEPARTMENT
1925 Blaine Street, Suite 100
Port Townsend WA 98368'+
Phone: (360)385-2322
Fax: (360)379-4438
Conner Daily, Chief of Police
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Sunday, December 16, 2012
Contact: Officer Luke Bogues 4747
Phone: (360) 531-2836
Email: Ibogues @cityofpt.us
Incident No.: 12-3313
Golf course burglar found guilty
The Kingston man caught by police in the act of burglarizing the Port Townsend Golf Club earlier this year was
found guilty Friday. Eric Orville Waldenburg, 46, could serve more than six years in prison for the crime.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams found Waldenburg guilty of second-degree burglary, first-
degree theft and possession of burglary tools. Waldenburg waived his right to a jury trial and asked the out-of-
county judge to decide the case. Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser recused himself from
hearing the matter.
Chris Ashcraft, Jefferson County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, said he will seek a sentence of 80 months in
prison—a little more than six and a half years. That amount of time is near the maximum the law allows in this
circumstance, Ashcraft said Friday.
Waldenburg's attorney, Richard Davies of Jefferson Associated Council, said in court he wants Waldenburg to
receive a post-conviction drug court sentence. Instead of imposing a prison sentence, drug courts allow judicial
oversight of an offender's rehabilitation. Waldenburg needs treatment for mental health and substance abuse
problems, Davies said.
Judge Williams said in court Friday that he isn't sure if a post-conviction entry into drug court is allowed and he
will review the matter. A sentencing date has yet to be set.
Waldenburg was arrested around 10 p.m. July 1 when Port Townsend Police Department officers Luke Bogues
and Ryan Smith responded to a burglary alarm at the golf course, 1948 Blaine Street. The officers discovered an
exterior door had been pried open and saw Waldenburg inside searching the pro shop office with a flashlight.
Waldenburg was arrested inside the building with more than $9,300 stashed in a duffel bag.
It wasn't the first time Waldenburg had been caught in the process of committing a burglary. Deputies from the
Jefferson County Sheriff s Office arrested him inside a Port Hadlock salon in April 2010.
Waldenburg's record includes multiple felonies, including 20 stemming from a string of burglaries in Montana
in 2004. The Montana Department of Corrections currently has a detainer placed on Waldenburg, should he be
released from custody here.
Waldenburg remains the suspect in multiple burglaries in unincorporated Jefferson County and faces other
charges in Superior Court related to those cases. Waldenburg will appear December 27 in Clallam County
Superior Court for a hearing regarding those charges.
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