Sheriff Publicly Addresses 5-Hour Delayed Response to Armed Home Invasion

— by Lin McNulty, updated Feb. 26 at 9 a.m. —

Sheriff Ron Krebs, right, along with Council Member Rick Hughes, speaks to a concerned crowd at the Senior Center.

A curious and concerned crowd gathered at the Senior Center last night to listen to Sheriff Ron Krebs address the delayed response by deputies to a recent armed home invasion.

The incident occurred on February 9 when a local resident, a recently hired OPALCO employee, was awakened by an armed, masked, and gloved intruder standing over his bed, gun pointed at his head, voicing intimidating threats. Two days later, the OPALCO building was sprayed with additional threatening graffiti.

After a 13-minute 911 call with the victim, determining that the suspect was no longer on the scene, the dispatcher “advised” the on-call supervisor of the incident, but did not initiate a dispatch. Arrangements were made for the complainant to meet with a deputy later in the morning to file a report.

This delayed response to a potentially life-threatening incident is not in keeping with the policies and procedures of the Sheriff’s Office, expressed Sheriff Krebs. “We all take this very, very seriously,” Krebs stressed. Skagit County Sheriff’s Office has been enlisted to conduct an internal investigation at Krebs’ request.

Meanwhile, a change has been made in policy and procedure: the Dispatcher will no longer need to call the supervisor until AFTER a deputy has been dispatched. Although there are times when no deputy is on patrol, there is always one on-call with a mandate to respond within ten minutes of the notification.

The problem was a “system problem, not a personnel issue,” said Krebs. As a result, funding has been obtained to hire an additional dispatcher so there are always two on duty. One life-threatening EMS call in the middle of the night can easily tie up a dispatcher who may be giving telephone CPR instructions, dispatching EMS units, and arranging for medical evacuation.

Many audience members shared their thoughts and feelings about Krebs’ willingness to stand in front of the Orcas community and answer any questions. “A mistake was made. Let’s move on,” said Bob Phalan.

For now, the Sheriff’s Office has no viable leads on the suspect, but continues to diligently work through the case, conducting interviews with anyone who may be seen as remotely knowledgeable. A pledge of $25,000 is currently offered as a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of this person.

Anyone with information is asked to call the anonymous tip line at 360-370-7629, or at 360-378-4151.