Humane society suspect sentenced

Alexander Bulmer, 19, the Moscow resident who was convicted last Tuesday by a superior court jury on a charge of burglarizing the Whitman County Humane Society was sentenced to 45 days in jail and ordered to pay $1,700 in fines and fees with $474 restitution to the society. Bulmer was allowed the option of working off 30 of the jail days with public service.

The court ordered a stay of the jail part of the sentence after Bulmer’s attorney told the court they planned to file an appeal related to the ruling on a pre-trial suppression hearing.

Bulme was convicted of second degree burglary at the Whitman County Humane Society following a one-day trial Tuesday in Whitman County Superior court. He has been scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

Bulmer was arrested after an investigation of the break-in at the society’s office at its new Johnson Road location south of Pullman last February. Deputies were called to the scene after society staffers discovered a window had been broken and items taken from the office. The investigation included a search for a missing cash register which was found in the snow along Chambers Road south of Pullman. A metal detector was used to locate the register after deputies were unable to find it in the snow.

A Humane Society staff member, former member, friends of the defendant and Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Chapman, who investigated the case, testified for the state. Among pieces of evidence presented at the trial were sections of a red broom handle which was believed to have been used to break the window to gain entry to the office. Sgt. Chapman’s report on the crime said he detected red paint particles among the broken glass from the window which was found inside the office.