TONASKET – Three juveniles were arrested in connection with a burglary at the Blue Bird Orchards warehouse, as well as the theft of an ATV and a pickup.

Blue Bird Orchards reported a burglary at their warehouse in Tonasket on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011 at around 7:45 a.m. Several items, including an ATV and a Ford F250 pickup were reported stolen, said Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers in a recent press release.

“At around noon Deputy Isaiah Holloway was contacted by Chief Warnstaff of Oroville who said he had received information about a juvenile riding an ATV on Palmer Mountain Road. Deputy Holloway drove up to the area and began looking for the ATV and interviewing subjects in the area who had seen the juveniles riding the ATV,” said Sheriff Rogers.

While in the area Deputy Holloway located another vehicle which was parked at the intersection of Palmer Mountain and Eighme roads. The truck’s plates had been switched but it was not listed as stolen at the time, according to the sheriff. The deputy impounded the truck from the site until the owner could be contacted. As the deputy was impounding the vehicle another vehicle came driving down the road. In the vehicle were two juvenile males who had been seen earlier riding an ATV.

“Officer Jim Rice from Tonasket PD arrived on scene to assist Deputy Holloway. During the course of the investigation the juveniles admitted to the burglary and to stealing the pickup truck and ATV from Blue Birds in Tonasket,” said Rogers. “The juveniles took Officer Rice and Deputy Holloway to the location of the stolen pickup which was located on Chewiliken Valley Road out of Tonasket. The stolen ATV was located at a residence on Palmer Mountain Road.”

The stolen items were recovered and Blue Bird Orchards Company was notified. It appears that the ATV had been stolen from the business approximately a week or so ago and the juveniles had gone back to the business and stolen the truck, according to Rogers.

The suspects in the case were three juvenile males, a 16-year-old from Oroville, a 16-year-old from Tonasket and a 17-year-old from Tonasket. The Tonasket Police Department is handling the burglary and theft investigation.