Whatcom authorities make arrest in stolen goods case after items spotted for sale on social media

A Whatcom County crime victim helped solve a burglary investigation after spotting their own stolen items for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

The sheriff’s office launched a burglary investigation March 25, when someone reported finding their stolen property for sale online. A second burglary victim contacted deputies April 29 to report tools had been stolen from a business in the 7600 block of Goodwin Road.

The person making the second report told deputies they had already found the stolen property for sale on Facebook Marketplace, according to Deb Slater with the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives searched the Facebook Marketplace profile and discovered farm tools that had been reported stolen from the March 25 burglary, which occurred in the 1600 block of Loomis Trail Road.

Detectives discovered the owner of the Facebook profile is in prison, and has been since 2022, Slater said.

Detectives set up a meeting through Facebook to buy back the stolen property April 30. At the meeting, police confirmed the seller to be Reuben Lee Perez, 33. Perez told detectives the items in the vehicle were not stolen, and gave consent for a search of the vehicle, Slater said.

When detectives confirmed the property was stolen by checking the serial numbers, Perez said he hadn’t known and agreed to return the property to the rightful owners in a certain amount of time, Slater said, but he didn’t return the items.

Detectives later spoke with the owner of the Facebook profile in prison. The prisoner told them they didn’t know Perez, or how he got access to the account, according to Slater.

Perez was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary, nine counts of second-degree trafficking in stolen property, second-degree possession of stolen property, eight counts of third-degree possession of stolen property, first-degree computer trespass and first-degree criminal impersonation.