ILWACO — The Long Beach Police Department arrested a man last week in connection with an attempted burglary at Englund Marine in Ilwaco. The suspect is well known to law enforcement in north county, who have dealt with him for several years.

The incident occurred on Oct. 16, when a 911 caller reported that a male subject attempted to gain entry into the business at 7:40 p.m. An individual witnessed the incident in the parking lot.

Officers arrived on the scene at 7:51 p.m.

“[The witness] was at her car with the lights on as she watched the suspect pull on both door handles of the closed store,” Officer Eric Cowsert states in the incident report. “The suspect then inserted a pointed metal object in the door lock while continuing to try to open the front door of the store.”

Officers learned from the witness that the object was an 8- to 10-inch-long metal object and that once he noticed her, he left the area.

“[The witness] stated the metal did not break when he put it in the door,” Cowsert states in his incident report. “[She] told me she locked her car and then looked back at the suspect as he was walking westbound away from the front doors.”

Cowsert showed the witness a picture of Brandon R. Holve, 47, from a contact he had the day prior with the man, and she positively identified him as the suspect. Holve lives in the downtown Raymond area.

Holve was later observed by the Ilwaco Fire Department and subsequently vanished from the area. At 10:14 p.m., the Raymond Police Department located him inside the Raymond Post Office, a location he frequents overnight.

“I requested that they detain Holve which they did,” LBPD Officer Anthony Natsiopoulos states in a supplemental report for the incident. “I arrived on scene at approximately [11:12 p.m.] I then took custody of Holve, searched his person, and placed him into my patrol vehicle.”

“I read Holve his constitutional rights at approximately [11:18 p.m.] Holve stated he understood his rights but did not wish to talk to the police,” Natsiopoulos added.

According to the supplemental report, Holve first told officers he “walked by it, I never went in there” and then that he was putting a letter on the business’s door to “thank someone and that it was just a misunderstanding.”

Holve was subsequently booked into the Pacific County Jail for second-degree attempted burglary. The Pacific County Prosecutor’s Office declined to file formal charges against Holve, and he was subsequently released on Oct. 17.

“The prosecutor’s office has already kicked it down to the municipal court,” LBPD Chief Wright responded to an email request about the incident. “They didn’t even wait for the report to get to them.”