Male suspect caught red-handed stealing at construction site

In the early hours of December 30, Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) deputies responded to a burglary at a residential construction site of a multistory building on 500 Legion Way SE.

The incident was reported by a security company monitoring the property through live CCTV.

According to the security company, a male suspect dressed entirely in black was observed entering the construction site through a hole in the fence and taking an item from the construction zone before leaving the premises.

The suspect was also seen attempting to re-enter the site and was lost on camera.

The construction site has been a frequent target for burglaries, TCSO reported.

Upon arriving at the scene, deputies spotted the suspect, later identified as Joseph Kirschenmann, loading a large spool of flexible conduit with wiring into a 1995 Ford Taurus, parked nearby with its engine still running. The conduit spool was approximately 4 feet by 4 feet in size.

The deputies approached the suspect and advised him to get down onto the ground. According to the officer, his response was a look of confusion, and then telling the officer he had found the conduit lying in the patch of grass.

Deputies held him at taser point, told him to drop on the floor, and arrested him.

“The male wasn`t listening to my commands completely, so I arched my taser to garner more cooperativeness, at which time the male laid down on his stomach and placed his hands behind his back,” a TCSO deputy stated in the police report. The suspect was the cuffed.

During the arrest, law enforcement discovered a clear plastic bag containing a substantial quantity of crystallized substance, believed to be methamphetamine, falling out of the suspect's coat pocket.

A search of the suspect's vehicle revealed the stolen spool of wires, a flashlight, and burglary tools.

The deputies obtained still photos from the CCTV footage, corroborating the suspect's presence at the scene.

The suspect, however, denied any wrongdoing, stating that he noticed the spool of conduit lying on a patch of grass near the building, while taking his usual late-night walk.

“I was just walking around like always and noticed the spool of wire. I then went and grabbed my car and pulled up to the spool to load it,” the suspect said in his official statement with TCSO.

Despite the suspect's statement, officers returned to the construction site and found additional spools of wire matching the stolen item and wet footprints near the conduit pallets.

The suspect was transported to the Thurston County Jail and booked on charges of second-degree burglary.

Due to the presence of stolen property in the suspect's vehicle, which he claimed to have recently purchased but not yet registered in his name, law enforcement seized the vehicle as evidence in the ongoing investigation.

Spools of conduit in the construction site.