Whatcom man booked into jail twice in 85 minutes after reported Bellingham crime spree
Less than a half hour after being released from Whatcom County Jail for allegedly breaking out the window of a Bellingham gas station early Tuesday, a Blaine man reportedly kicked in the front doors of two occupied homes and fought with a resident.
The Bellingham Police Department twice booked Christian Lee Dillard, 22, into Whatcom County Jail on Tuesday, March 22, on suspicion of multiple counts of second-degree malicious mischief, residential burglary and second-degree burglary. Jail records Wednesday show Dillard remains in custody in lieu of $6,000 bail.
“Dillard was booked on the earlier charge and then released on personal recognizance within an hour of being booked,” Lt. Claudia Murphy wrote in a email to The Bellingham Herald Tuesday evening. “Upon his release, he immediately broke into two occupied homes by kicking in the front doors, even struggling with one of the residents. He committed three additional felonies, put several residents at serious risk of harm, creating an imminent risk to the community.”
Shortly before 4 a.m. on March 22, Bellingham Police were called to the Shell station in the 1900 block of King Street after receiving a 911 call from a man, later determined to be Dillard, who said he needed help after someone had broken out a window, according to Murphy. Dillard reportedly later told What-comm dispatchers that it was he who had broken out the window with a rock.
Police arrived to find the front door to the station shattered and Dillard inside the store, Murphy reported. There also was a large rock inside the store, and police estimated the damage to be approximately $2,500.
Jail records show Dillard was booked at 4:41 a.m. and released at 5:25 a.m.
At approximately 5:44 a.m., police were called to the 1100 block of North Garden Street after for a report of a residential burglary in progress, according to Murphy, after a victim reported a 5-foot-9 man wearing a baseball hat, gray sweats and a red shirt had kicked in her front door and walked into her house.
The victim reported that the man, who was later identified as Dillard, reportedly walked upstairs and tried to get into another room, before fighting with the victim when she attempted to shut the door, according to Murphy. The victim reportedly managed to fight Dillard off, and he left.
Officers soon found Dillard, wearing the same clothes, running through downtown away from North Garden Street, Murphy reported, adding that he was arrested and admitted to breaking into a house.
At about that time, a second victim called 911 saying that someone had kicked in a front door at his house a few minutes earlier in the 500 block of East Chestnut Street, according to Murphy. Police checked the house and found the damaged door and an open back door as if someone had run through the house, Murphy reported.
Dillard admitted to kicking in the doors at two houses, according to Murphy, and police estimated the damage at the two houses, which were less than a block away from each other, at $750.
Dillard was booked into the jail for a second time in 85 minutes at 6:06 a.m., jail records show.
Whatcom County Superior Court records show Dillard has previous convictions for assault, malicious mischief, theft, bail jumping and resisting arrest in Whatcom County since 2018.
Booking restrictions at jail
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Whatcom County Jail has instituted booking restrictions to limit how many people are housed in a confined space, due to COVID, jail staffing and facility issues at the aging jail.
“As of March 19th, 2020 Booking Restrictions have been instituted at the Whatcom County Jail/Work Center,” a weekly snapshot from the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Chief Wendy Jones reads. “These restrictions have been instituted to reduce exposure to the COVID-19 virus for both jail employees and the offender population, either of which will have a significant impact on capacity and workforce availability.”
As a result, people who are arrested for property crimes or those who don’t represent a serious threat to public safety (unlike those who are arrested for violent offenses, felony DUI, sex offenses and burglary) aren’t booked into jail or are released shortly afterward to help keep the jail population down.
Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Richey addressed recent stories he’s heard about “brazen theft in our community,” and the concerns he has about the increasing property crime in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“I want you all to know that I care about property crime, and my office is working hard to address the issue,” Richey wrote.
In addition to the COVID-related and facility-related booking restrictions at the jail, Richey cited new legislation “making it difficult for law enforcement to investigate people or pursue those suspected of committing crime” and a backlog of cases caused by a year’s worth of court cases being suspended due to COVID restrictions as causes for the recent increase.
“Due to these problems, people are typically released almost immediately for property crimes despite the community’s wishes or the prosecutor’s recommendations,” Richey wrote. “Incarceration is not always the answer, but some form of accountability is necessary to change behavior.
“People who were charged with crimes during the pandemic did not have to resolve their cases because there was no threat of trial. All of these factors came together these past two years and emboldened criminals, who knew they probably wouldn’t be chased and caught, and, even if caught, wouldn’t face any accountability.”
Richey wrote that some of the issues were addressed by new legislation in 2022 allowing police “to again use some traditional force, allowing more criminal investigations.”
But he admitted there was still work to be done as the county emerges from the pandemic.
“While booking restrictions are still in place, trials have resumed, and having trials means that prosecutors will again be able to hold people accountable for the crimes they commit today and for the crimes they committed during the pandemic,” Richey wrote adding that his office plans to hold people accountable.
“Public safety is my mandate and top priority, and, when we can hold people accountable again, crime rates will fall and public safety will improve.”
