BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A Bellingham man is in custody following an investigation into a string of retail thefts around the city.
Bellingham Police spokesperson Megan Peters says officers responded to a report of two people involved with drugs in a parked car on Saturday, Oct. 5.
The driver identified himself as a deceased family member, which caused one of the officers to recognize him as having numerous outstanding warrants for his arrest. Court documents state that Bellingham Police investigators previously connected the man to a burglary at Black Noise Records in September.
The suspect in that burglary was seen wearing the same clothing in surveillance camera footage from several other thefts in Bellingham that include Barnes and Noble, Target, Sportsman’s Warehouse and GameStop.
Investigators believe the suspect had used a dead family member’s passport to sell the stolen merchandise at pawn shops. Further lab testing confirmed that the suspect’s fingerprints were found on a pawn slip for a stolen guitar from Black Noise.
Peters says he’s implicated in 28 total retail thefts from six separate businesses over a 180-day period.
The suspect, identified as 42-year-old Gregory Keefe, was arrested following the car stop on Oct. 5 and remains at the Whatcom County Jail without bail.
