Naked burglar arrested while doing laundry

A Ritzville couple were startled to discover an unwanted man in the apartment attached to their home on the morning of Thursday, July 7.

The 38-year-old man was sitting on the couch in the apartment wearing nothing but a towel. When Police Chief David McCormick responded to the home of Dan and Cheri Haarstad, he found the man still in the apartment.

Cheri Haarstad discovered the man about 7 a.m. when she went into the apartment to retrieve some clothing for a trip she was leaving on. The suspect, Art Ray, was sitting on the couch, watching television.

When McCormick entered the apartment, Ray was still there. “As I entered I saw a white male adult standing in the kitchen area wearing a turquoise towel and nothing else,” McCormick wrote in his arrest report. “He had a corn cob type smoking pipe and a blue plastic lighter in his hand.”

When asked what he was doing, Ray reportedly said “laundry,” according to McCormick’s report.

After taking Ray into custody, McCormick examined the apartment and discovered an empty root beer can in the kitchen and the dryer running with laundry in it. He also located two cigarette packages and a plastic bag with a green substance in it. The substance later tested positive for three grams of marijuana according to the police report.

McCormick booked Ray into the Adams County Jail on charges of residential burglary, possession of marijuana under 40 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia.