Fire department burglary suspect nabbed

Briceland Fire Company temporarily lost $5,000 of equipment

Humboldt Sentinel staff
8/8/09

Dutyville

A suspect was arrested Wednesday on charges of burglary and possession of property stolen from the Crooked Prairie Fire Station in Southern Humboldt.

Sheriff’s deputies were deployed on Tuesday to the station, part of the Briceland Fire Company, after the fire crew discovered a burglary. Deputies determined that the station had been broken into and multiple pieces of fire equipment worth more than $5,000 had been stolen. They also reviewed footage from a security camera, which showed a suspect entering the station on two separate occasions.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office followed up on this evidence and contacted several people in the area, showing them pictures of the suspect, who was identified as 49-year-old Salinas resident James Bruce McDonnell. He was arrested without incident and booked into the county jail, and is being held on $50,000 bail.

McDonnell will be arraigned on Friday, while the stolen equipment was successfully recovered and returned to the fire station.