Hope man facing up to five years for Kapu Road burglary

August 8, 2022

A 45-year-old Hope, Idaho, man staying in Boundary County in a trailer on the property of a late friend's grieving widow will spend two to five years in prison and pay more than $82,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to grand theft by possession of stolen property.

According to court documents, Boundary County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report September 4, 2021, of unknown men harassing the owner of a property on Stormy Lane in south Boundary County. On arrival, a man identified as Dylan Charles Longstreet, wanted on warrants out of Bonner County, fled the scene.

The following day, a third party called dispatch reporting that she'd overheard talk of men robbing a nearby vacation home, but she was not the victim and was unable to provide details. Then, on September 9, 2021, the recently widowed property owner on Stormy Lane called to report she was being held against her will and was in danger. For the second time, deputies arrived to see Longstreet run from the house and into the woods.

Sheriff's deputies launched a search for Longstreet on the Bonner County warrant, and on September 14, they stopped at a residence on Kapu Road not far north of the Stormy Lane property and discovered it had been broken into and ransacked, with the door kicked open and items pulled from drawers, closets and cupboards. About 100 yards from the house, they found a 1995 Toyota pickup parked in the trees and a check of the registration showed Longstreet as the owner.

Detectives contacted the owner of the vacation home, a doctor from Indiana, and received a partial list of items of value, including a Honda four-wheeler in the garage that was missing.

The widow on Stormy Lane reported finding a black four wheeler on her property, saying that when she asked Longstreet about it, she was told it was none of her business. Longstreet became a prime suspect in the Kapu Road burglary. A check of keys on a key ring found in the Toyota heightened suspicion when one of them opened the padlock on the gate at the entrance to the property on Kapu Road.

The doctor came to Bonners Ferry September 16 and detectives met with him at the property the following, going through the property and compiling a comprehensive list of what was missing.

After days not being able to reach the woman who'd reported overhearing talk on September 5, investigators reached her at her Newport, Washington, home. She'd been in Boundary County to help the Stormy Lane property owner cope with the loss of her husband, and that she's tried without success to report both the burglary and three men, including Longstreet, who were taking advantage of the widow.

She described having heard the three men talk about stealing silver, guns and a four-wheeler, that she and the widow had gone to the Kapu Road residence to see what was going on, and finding the door kicked in.

On September 28, the doctor provided a final list of items taken from the Kapu Road house, and multiple items were found and recovered at the Stormy Lane property.

On October 25, Longstreet was charged with one count of burglary, later amended to felony possession of stolen property.

On Friday, August 5, Longstreet, who has a long criminal record for theft and drugs in both Bonner and Kootenai Counties, appeared before Judge Barbara Buchanan in Bonner County, on this case and two outstanding felony drug charges in Bonner County dated July 10, 2021, and September 19, 2019. He was concurrently sentenced to two years in prison, determinate, three years indeterminate, credited for 244 days served, and ordered to pay  $83,983.36 restitution and $245.50 court costs. In addition, Buchanan issued a no-contact order under which Longstreet is forbidden from contacting the Indiana doctor for  five years.