Two Mountain residents were arrested and lodged in the Clackamas County
Jail for break-ins at two local businesses.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 5, the Whistle Stop in Welches and Wall
Street Pizza in Sandy were burglarized.

Armed with two search warrants, the Sandy Police – working with county
sheriff’s deputies and the county Inter-Agency Task Force - apprehended
Jonathan Holden Brady, 27, and Carson Ray Barden, 30, on Jan. 27 at a
Government Camp bar.

Brady and Barden are being held on $52,500 bail, each facing charges of
Burglary II, Criminal Mischief I, Theft I, and Theft II, according to the
Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. At press time the CCSO reported that
Brady had posted bail.

Jeff Dunham, three-year owner of The Whistle Stop – a Mountain
establishment since 1927 – was shocked when his camera security tapes
revealed the alleged perpetrators.

“When I saw the video, saw who it was, I couldn’t believe it,” Dunham said.

“They were regulars. They always seemed to be regular guys.”

Twelve video surveillance cameras captured the break-in.

The connection to Wall Street Pizza was made by Dunham when a Verizon
technician notified him that the pizza parlor’s phone line had been cut as well
as The Whistle Stop on the same night. He told Dunham he didn’t believe in
coincidence.

Dunham immediately contacted Wall Street Pizza owner Jim Beckers and they
compared video surveillance tapes – which were turned over to the Sandy
Police Department.

Detective K.T. Taylor, of SPD, took up the case, examined the tapes, and
eventually secured the search warrants.

“Both establishments had surveillance tapes,” Taylor told The Mountain Times.

“We reviewed them and the suspects appeared to be similar, as well as the
MO.”

Julianne Carson, a Whistle Stop employee of eight months, was the first on
the scene at 6 a.m., Jan. 5.

“When I saw the back door open I thought it was just the beer truck driver,”
Carson said. “But I figured out pretty quickly that wasn’t the case. I hoped no
one was still inside. But I’m a criminal justice student, so I knew not to go in.”

Carson then contacted the manager, William Dunham Sr. – Jeff Dunham’s
father – who lives on the Mountain. He arrived a few minutes later and
notified authorities.

Admitting he was no expert on such things – he had never been robbed
before – Dunham was not hesitant to point out how “professional” the job
appeared to be.

“They knew right where to go, and what not to touch,” he said. “For example,
they left the lottery machines alone. That would have triggered an immediate
alarm to the police.”

Dunham estimates the loss at “about $10,000” which includes top-shelf liquor,
structural damage, and “about $4,000 in receipts.”

It appears the burglars cut the phone line before breaking through the door of
the supply room on the east side of the building. They apparently were
thwarted there by a triple-locked door which kept them from entering the bar
and restaurant area.

Not to be denied, evidence suggests they broke out a back window and
entered the bar.

“They broke into the office, stole all the top-shelf liquor, a laptop computer
and went for the machines,” Dunham said.

Machines burglarized included the cash register (which was empty), the juke
box, cigarette machine, two pinball machines, the Trivia game and the ATM
machine.

The ATM netted the biggest haul as the cash register receipts and the next
day’s bank were kept in the upper portion of the machine, according to
Dunham.

“They got about $4,000 in cash from the ATM, another $400 or so from the
juke box, and smaller amounts from the rest of the machines,” he said.
Dunham reflected on the fact that there was only a three-hour window
between the night bartender’s closing and Carson’s arrival.

“It was such a narrow time frame,” he said. “They knew the routine, I figure.

They got in and out in a hurry, especially when you figure that everything
they took had to be handed through the broken back window and over the
patio fence.”

Five video cameras documented the break-in at the Proctor Blvd. pizza parlor.
Beckers, owner of Wall Street Pizza for 11 years, said this was the first forced
entry he had suffered at the establishment.

“I felt violated,” Beckers said. “This is no fun. But I guess it’s the risk of doing
business.”

He said the burglars got about $200 from the backup cash register.

“They missed out on another $200,” he said. “They smashed the primary cash
register but couldn’t get into it.”

Damage included a broken window and the cash register. There was beer and
wine on the premises but “it doesn’t appear they took any,” he said.

The break-in was discovered at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 5 when the manager, James
Young, came to open the pizza parlor.

The investigation is ongoing, and Taylor asks anyone with information about
either break-in to notify him at the Sandy Police Department, 503-668-5566.