An Auburn man was sentenced to a little over four years in prison for charges stemming from stealing copper wire from cellphone towers, fleeing from officers and then crashing into two different vehicles, and a storage unit burglary.
On Sept. 12, Jason Dean Warter, 41, of Auburn, was sentenced to 51 months in prison following guilty pleas in three different cases. These charges stem from three different incidents:
• In the first incident on Jan. 24, 2024, Warter and an accomplice stole about $50,000 worth of copper wires from cellphone towers in SeaTac.
• In the second incident, on Dec. 3, 2024, Warter was in a stolen vehicle when he fled from police, crashed into two people and then was arrested unlawfully possessing a firearm in Tukwila.
• In the third incident, on Dec. 28, 2024, Warter broke into a storage unit in Kirkland and stole over $100,000 worth of electronics.
The sentences from all three cases will run at the same time, and the highest sentence he received was 51 months.
Warter pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree burglary from the copper wire case and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, one count of second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission and one count of attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle from the fleeing police and crashing into vehicles case. He also pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree burglary in connection with the storage unit theft case.
With five adult felonies, 10 adult misdemeanors, three juvenile felonies and four juvenile misdemeanors on his criminal record, Warter had the maximum offender score for all of his charges. Warter’s charges that had the highest sentencing range were his burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm charges. For the charges with the highest sentencing range, the low-end sentence was 51 months, which both the defense and prosecution recommended as part of an agreed-upon recommendation in Warter’s plea agreement.
Copper wire thefts
A 7:08 a.m. Jan. 24, 2024, officers responded to a silent commercial alarm in the 3500 block of South 200th Street in SeaTac. Documents state that at this location, there are three different cell towers with different companies that have buildings there — Verizon, AT&T and Dish Network.
According to documents, officers investigated and found that copper wire appeared to have been stolen from the Verizon and Dish Network buildings. About $50,000 worth of copper wire was stolen, and the Verizon building received $9,720 worth of damage.
Documents state that officers then identified Warter as a suspect due to video footage appearing to show a man who looked like him. Additionally, his fingerprints were found at the scene, and Verizon confirmed that Warter was not authorized to be in the buildings.
Hit-and-run
At about 12:21 p.m. Dec. 3, 2024, Tukwila Police Department officers were alerted that a stolen red Ford F-250 had been spotted on a Flock system camera. Documents state that an officer attempted to stop the F-250, but the vehicle did not stop, and proceeded to run red lights while traveling at a high rate of speed above the posted 35 mph speed limit.
Documents state that the F-250 then struck a vehicle, but continued to flee. The F-250 then crashed into another vehicle, which caused the F-250 to crash into a tree. Warter was subsequently arrested, and during the arrest, he attempted to grab a firearm that was on the floor of the F-250. Warter was then transported to the hospital because he suffered a major laceration from the collision.
Storage unit burglary
Documents state that on Dec. 28, 2024, officers responded to a report of a storage unit being burglarized in the 600 block of Sixth Avenue in Kirkland. The owner of the storage unit was contacted, and he stated that over $100,000 worth of electronics were stolen, including Microsoft tablets.
Two people, one later identified as Warter, were seen on camera prying open a storage unit. Documents state that an employee said that he believed one of the suspects was Warter, who also had been renting a storage unit at this location.
Documents state officers then matched one of the suspects as Warter due to matching hand tattoos, and his selling a Microsoft tablet on Facebook after the incident. Warter was then arrested on Feb. 7, 2025, after he was found hiding in a laundry room. Warter’s accomplice was questioned by police, and he said that he and Warter committed the burglary. He further said that Warter had been attempting to locate gun safes in storage units, and Warter contacted him nightly to commit more burglaries.
