Business owner catches burglar on surveillance video phone app

SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane Police arrested a man for trying to break into a Hillyard business, after he was caught on surveillance video linked to the owner’s cell phone.

The owner of the business called police and told them she received a security alert from an app on her phone, which allowed her to check her building’s surveillance video. She said she saw two men enter a fenced area on her property with burglary tools.

She also told police she was out of town at the time.

Officers were dispatched to the business and found a suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Devin Johnson, who tried to run away and escape through a hole in the fence. Police quickly caught and arrested Johnson, discovering he had several keys for the vehicles parked in the fenced lot, and those vehicles were visibly ransacked.

Authorities say a second suspect was never identified or located.

Johnson was charged with two counts of second-degree vehicle trespass, one count of third-degree malicious mischief and possession of burglary tools.

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