Woodland resident and Sticks Custom Portable Bandsaw Milling owner Brian Trembley told the Thurston County Board of Commissioners Tuesday that he had no knight in shining armor when it came to the theft of his sawmill in 2023.
Trembley’s sawmill, which is valued at an estimated $85,000, was stolen from a Tumwater job site in August 2023 and returned to him weeks later after his property had made its way to a well-known chop shop outside of Rainier. However, he claimed that the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office’s (TCSO) response left much to be desired.
Trembley said one of the two thieves was arrested but that there has not been an arrest of the chop shop owner after 18 months. He expressed his concern with the county’s justice system after the arrested thief was freed.
“His crime was his 12th felony. I was told there was no way he would be released until his trial because he couldn’t afford bail, and he was ordered to pay bail for all 12 counts,” Trembley wrote to the commissioners.
The first chunk of his testimony was read by Jerry Murray of Mason County while Trembley read the rest.
“On March 3, he was released by Judge (John) Skinder on a day when my prosecuting attorney was on vacation. As a result, I had no voice in court.”
Trembley told the commissioners that the second thief was “found under a bonfire with a bullet in the back of his head” on a property off Old McKenna Road in Yelm, where his property was taken after the theft before it was transported to the chop shop.
Sheriff Derek Sanders told The Chronicle after the meeting that, while there was a shooting in that area that prompted a SWAT team standoff and resulted in the suicide death of the suspect, Trembley’s claims of the second thief’s fate are not true.
“It was investigated. There was no body located. We did have a shooting there, and we obviously recovered that body and then had the SWAT standoff at the end of it and the individual who ultimately killed themselves,” Sanders said. “But his report that he told us there was a body there and we never did anything is also untrue. I personally searched for a body on that property.”
Trembley said the chop shop operator has been known since Gary Edwards served as county sheriff, which Sanders confirmed. When his sawmill was recovered, Trembley said TCSO went into the chop shop and stayed for a while, confirmed his property, and then “left me unprotected there for a couple of hours pending towing during the blackest of nights on a property of a known meth distributor, knowing that three days prior, there was a shooting there.”
He added that the ignition was “punched out,” the license plate was removed, an identification plate was “ground off,” and several metal parts were removed. Trembley recounted that, while the chop shop owner admitted to paying for the sawmill, they told officers that they didn’t know it was stolen, allegedly preventing an arrest, he said.
“There is a witness who can testify otherwise, but TCSO did not interview either of us after the sergeant left the scene. I was told that TCSO would not proceed with the investigation unless I became my own detective and gave them more information,” he wrote. “Otherwise, they considered my case closed.”
Trembley said he visited the TCSO office and was approached by an officer, who allegedly told him to “turn around and walk away from the bad guys and say no harm, no foul.” He accused Sanders of telling him that he was too busy to see him over the 18-month period and for responding with a laughing emoji when Trembley commented on a Facebook post. Trembley said his loss is “not enough in this county to justify their best effort to obtain justice, unless you are famous.”
He also claimed that it took 65 days for the county’s prosecuting attorney to meet with him, and when they did, “he made me feel unimportant.”
Sanders told The Chronicle that the agency met with Trembley “numerous times” but that he did not meet with him.
“Because of the nature of his complaints, I wasn’t sure if he was filing a complaint in which I wouldn’t meet with that person because I’m the final arbiter of any complaint,” he said. “Secondly, our answer wasn’t going to change. He continued to be upset with the court system, and we explained to him that I’m not a judge. I’m not a prosecutor. The man who stole his saw was arrested. I cannot do anything about the fact that he was released. The person who he wants arrested, there is no probable cause to arrest that person. His complaints seem to be more with legislation and the judicial branch. At this point in time, it’s one of those things where I understand he’s upset and I’m happy he got his mill back.”
Trembley told the commissioners that it is his impression, along with other victims, that TCSO is “simply lazy or dirty” and that if a crime is committed against someone, they should “make doubly sure that it is heinous enough for you to receive justice.”
“Remember, in your futures, you could be a victim. I’m sure you would agree that no victim should ever be treated like me in this case,” he said. “Help make your county a better county.”
