Derrick Lee Lyons, 31, of Warren, Oregon, was convicted after a jury trial on March 8 of second-degree burglary, first-degree theft and theft of a motor vehicle. This is a December 2017 file photo.
One of two suspects arrested Christmas morning in Chehalis on suspicion of burglary — after sheriff’s deputies followed their footprints in the snow — was convicted after a jury trial of three criminal charges.
Derrick Lee Lyons, 31, of Warren, Oregon, was convicted after a jury trial on March 8 of second-degree burglary, first-degree theft and theft of a motor vehicle.
A second suspect, Donald Edward Emery, 48, of St. Helens, Oregon, has not yet gone to trial.
The men were reportedly caught in possession of about $200,000 in stolen items.
Lyons’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 30.
According to court documents and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, sheriff’s office command staff went on patrol Christmas morning in an attempt to give deputies more time with their families.
Chief Deputy Dusty Breen was on his way to pick up Undersheriff Wes Rethwill when he saw a truck parked on the side of the road in the 200 block of Hamilton Road North that “piqued his curiosity,” Rethwill said earlier this year.
Breen saw footprints in the snow around the vehicle and followed them to a nearby business when he reportedly came face to face with the suspects, who had stolen items including more than $100,000 in tools loaded into the back of a truck, also stolen.
