Three Men Wanted In Kittitas County Burglary

The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office is looking for three men who burglarized a home near Ellensburg this week.

The theft reportedly took place at a residence in the Grasslands neighborhood on Quartz Mountain Drive when the owners were away.

Deputies were alerted to the break-in and quickly responded to the home after a motion-detecting security camera captured the men inside the residence.

Sheriff's Inspector Christopher Whitsett says when deputies arrived they saw the suspects' vehicle fleeing the scene.

"We were able to respond within minutes and one of our deputies located a vehicle that was leaving the area at a pretty high rate of speed and looked suspicious. He signaled the vehicle to stop and it proceeded to drive recklessly, then stopped and the three men inside bailed out and ran."

Deputies searched the vicinity for several hours but were unable to locate the suspects, whom Whitsett says may have been picked up by an accomplice in a separate vehicle that transported them out of the area.

Although the suspects managed to evade capture, Whitsett says a search of their vehicle and a subsequent investigation by sheriff's detectives turned up a wealth of valuable evidence.

"We have gathered significant information and evidence from the vehicle and recovered what we believe to be all of the items that were stolen from the house, including almost ten-thousand dollars in cash and a substantial amount of valuable jewelry."

The three suspects are all believed to be Hispanic males in their 20s or 30s and Whitsett says it's possible they are still in the Ellensburg area.

Anyone with information about them is being asked to contact the Kittcom at 509-925-8534 and reference case #S24-02206.