Alarm did not go off when suspects broke into Office of the Courts building

An official with the state Administrative Office of the Courts said Tuesday the building alarm was not triggered when two suspects broke in through a side door early Monday.

Ramsey Radwan, management services division director for the Office of the Courts, said they are looking into why the alarms did not go off, and they are taking inventory of items that might have been stolen, including possible state property, personal items, and cash from employee desks. A vending machine also was broken into, he said.

Radwan characterized the burglary this way: “It doesn’t appear to be an organized theft ring, but it’s also not kids messing around.”

An employee showed up about 5 a.m. Monday and noticed that things were in disarray. Olympia police responded to the 1200 block of Quince Street Southeast about 5:30 a.m. Monday.

The burglary happened in “Building 2,” which is home to case management and data warehousing systems that serve courts throughout the state. About 90 people work in the building across two floors.

Security camera footage showed two suspects: One was wearing a bandana, while the other suspect had picked up a Halloween mask from an employee desk and put it on his head.

The suspects were covered up at times, but other times during the burglary they were not, Radwan said.

Detectives have been assigned to the case, Olympia police Lt. Sam Costello said.

This story was originally published July 17, 2018 at 11:40 AM.