Missing boys turn up in Sagle

SAGLE — Three runaways from Boundary County were found near Muskrat Lake on Wednesday morning.

A landowner checking a neighborhood residence that had been burglarized on Monday happened upon Ethan Pinson, 15, Cody Pinson, 13, and Dakota Pinson, 9. The trio confirmed they were the runaways in question.

“The timing could not have been more amazing. I parked the car, walked around the back and see them through the trees tiptoeing toward the Claytons' house,” said Mike Abolafia.

The boys gave themselves up without any trouble and were fed by neighbors before being turned over to Bonner County sheriff’s deputies.

Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler confirmed the three boys detained by Abolafia were the runaways. They were last seen in the Paradise Valley area on Aug. 15.

The boys are suspected of burglarizing a Maria Pia Lane residence on Monday and returning to the scene of the crime on Tuesday, where they were reportedly chased off by Alan Clayton.

“He chased them on foot and then got in his car and came to my side of the street, and the two of us scoured the neighborhood but they took off, probably over the railroad tracks,” Abolafia said.

Abolafia was checking on the Clayton residence on Wednesday when he spotted the boys shortly before 10 a.m.

Abolafia and another neighbor found the boys’ makeshift encampment in the woods a couple hundred yards from the Clayton residence. Sagle firefighters extinguished two open campfires that the boys left burning.

“They had a wheelbarrow in the woods and it was stuffed with stolen items,” said Abolafia.

The wheelbarrow held as many as five rifles, ammunition, archery and fishing gear, coin collections, medications and alcohol.

The boys claimed they hitchhiked from Boundary County’s Paradise Valley. They were last seen on Aug. 15.

Abolafia said the boys told him they ran away because they did not like where they were living or the foster family that was caring for them.

Abolafia, a retired law officer from New York, also voiced appreciation for the diligence of sheriff’s deputies following the break-in and attempted break-in.

“They did a terrific job,” he said.

Wheeler said the teen-aged Pinsons are being held at the Bonner County Juvenile Detention Facility. They are slated to make an initial court appearance today.

“The youngest went home with mom,” Wheeler said.

The trio is suspected of perpetrating at least two burglaries.

“All of them took part in it,” Wheeler said.