'Come Out From Behind The Teddy Bear,' Sheriff's Deputies Tell Suspect

BROOKDALE, WA - The lesson here: always, always check behind the giant teddy bear.

Pierce County Sheriff's deputies recently found a wanted felon hiding behind a 6-foot tall teddy bear while searching a home in the Brookdale area between Lakewood and Puyallup. And it's a good thing they checked - the suspect had drugs and a gun stolen in Puyallup in his possession, police say.

Last Thursday, deputies and state Department of Corrections officers went to a home along 28th Avenue East to check on an offender and to look for a man who was at the home with an outstanding felony warrant.

The officers searched the house, but didn't find anything. But then they remembered something funny they saw in one of the bedrooms: a giant teddy bear placed suspiciously in the corner.

Sure enough, the 32-year-old suspect was "crouched behind the teddy bear," the sheriff's office reported.

The suspect did surrender, and a search of his bedroom turned up used syringes, prescription pills, and a small bag of heroin, police say. They searched a jacket they found in the room, and in one pocket discovered a loaded revolver containing hollow-point ammunition. Police discovered that the gun was stolen from a car parked at a mechanic's shop in Puyallup last December.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful possession of heroin, and resting arrest.

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