Olympia resident T-Jay Duane Delo, 47, was charged with one count of theft in the first degree and one count of trafficking in stolen property in the first degree in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday, July 8, after he and his brother were allegedly caught with a stolen excavator.
Both charges are Class B felonies.
According to the affidavit of probable cause document filed in Lewis County Superior Court, an excavator was reported stolen from within Lewis County on Dec. 22, 2024, with its tracker showing it was taken to the ilani Casino in Clark County. Casino surveillance footage showed two men in a truck hauling the stolen excavator, who were allegedly identified as T-Jay Delo and his brother, Jonathan Delo.
“In an interview with police, Jonathan admitted T-Jay was part of the theft of the excavator,” the probable cause document stated.
Then, on Jan. 26, 2025, the Centralia Police Department responded to a report of a second excavator being stolen from a job site. Surveillance footage from the job site showed the excavator being taken by a pair of suspects investigators believed to be T-Jay and Jonathan Delo again.
Jonathan Delo, 45, was charged with three counts of first-degree theft and three counts of first-degree trafficking of stolen property in Lewis County Superior Court last month as previously reported by The Chronicle.
During T-Jay Delo’s Tuesday preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court, prosecuting attorneys asked for $100,000 in bail due to T-Jay Delo already having another outstanding arrest warrant and having committed three bail jumps in the past.
Additionally, T-Jay Delo’s record includes previous charges of robbery, assault, possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver and other theft-related convictions, according to court documents.
Defense attorney Rachel Tiller countered, asking for unsecured release with bail at no more than $10,000, citing that T-Jay Delo’s prior convictions were years, or in some cases, decades old.
“The bail jumping convictions that were referred to (were) six or seven years ago. Also I heard assault convictions, again, from the 90s. Quite old,” Tiller said.
She added T-Jay Delo currently has stable living conditions as is employed as a welder.
“There’s no issue returning to court. I know that Mr. Delo is frustrated regarding this case, and he should be,” Tiller added. “The allegation, I would say, is one of finger-pointing.”
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Andrew Toynbee set T-Jay Delo’s bail at $20,000.
“I don’t see any felony convictions in the past five years or failure to appear in the past five years, and that’s generally what I look for,” Toynbee said.
With the excavators being valued at around $90,000 each, he added the charges were still serious in his opinion, and required some sort of bail. T-Jay Delo’s arraignment was set for July 17.
Jonathan Delo is scheduled to face trial the week of Aug. 18 on three counts of first-degree theft and three counts of first-degree trafficking of stolen property.
Detectives have been working to track down and recover the stolen pieces of equipment.
“The total value of stolen property recovered during this investigation that was directly linked to (Jonathan) Delo was approximately $615,000,” the Centralia Police Department stated in a news release last month. “Per the evidence obtained, (Jonathan) Delo has been involved in the theft of heavy equipment for at least the past seven years.”
Last month, the Centralia Police Department urged anyone who has purchased any equipment from Jonathan Delo to contact Detective King at 360-330-7680 “to verify its legitimacy.”
