Prolific burglary suspect nabbed

SANDPOINT — A Priest River man has been arrested in connection with a rash of burglaries in western Bonner County this month.

Daniel Paul Lucas is charged with eight counts of burglary. He was arrested on two burglary counts on Monday, but six more counts were added on Tuesday, court records show.

Lucas is being held in lieu of $48,000 bail. A public defender has been appointed to represent him and a preliminary hearing on the felony charges is pending in magistrate court.

Lucas, 24, was initially implicated in a daylight break-in at a home on Eastside Cutoff Road on June 17. The homeowner spotted a man sprinting from his residence and bounding over a barbed-wire fence toward a suspiciously parked Toyota 4-Runnner on the cutoff road, according to sheriff’s deputy reports. The sport utility vehicle was registered to Lucas.

Lucas was confronted by sheriff’s deputies and confessed, an arrest report alleges.

Lucas made off with less than $100 worth of swag, but was charged with felonies for entering the landowner’s home and barn intending to commit theft.

While in custody on those charges, Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon filed six additional charges stemming from a series of burglaries at cabins south of Priest Lake’s Shoshone Bay. Those heists occurred on June 15, according to charging papers.

A hidden game trail camera captured images of Lucas at the collection of cabins off Neopit View Loop Road, the arrest report indicates.

A chainsaw, hunting and fishing equipment, a DVD player and other miscellaneous items were reported in the Neopit break-ins.