A Medina Police detective correlated information he read in a Tacoma crime bulletin to suggest a possible connection to an April 14 crime here.

The Medina event involved a daytime burglary at a residence in the 2000 block of 78th Avenue Northeast. No visible forced entry into the house was noticed. A large screen TV, $1,100 in cash and credit cards were among items taken by the suspect.

A neighbor described seeing a slim white male, approximately 5’8″ tall, who was clean shaven. The suspect arrived and later departed in what was described as a clean white sedan, similar to a Ford Taurus.

After reading the Tacoma memo, the Medina detective contacted Tacoma Police, who had two people in custody for a string of burglaries in their jurisdiction. Evidence led the detective to connect them to the Medina burglary as well as a Mercer Island burglary.

The suspects are a 19-year old male and a 17-year old female.

Although the male initially refused to cooperate with Medina and Mercer Island police investigators, both he and the juvenile female later confessed to committing the Mercer Island Burglary, the reported Medina burglary and also revealed yet another unreported Medina burglary in the same block that was committed on another occasion.

The 19-year-old male told investigators he had only recently started to commit burglaries within the last two months after being laid off as a swimming pool cleaner. The male confessed to knowing how to defeat window locks with a pry tool without having to physically damage the windows or doors to make entry.

Medina Police attribute the successful break in the case to the alert neighbor who provided police with an initial description of the male suspect and vehicle.