Skagit County Man Accused of Stealing Whidbey Island Ride, Arrested on Highway 20

Smoke from a beach campfire near the Dike Road pullout had barely cleared when Devon M. Burton, 43, of Skagit County, allegedly drove off in the car that had brought him to Whidbey Island.

Burton appeared in Island County Superior Court on April 3 after an Island County Sheriff's Office report alleged he took a 2001 Volvo station wagon without the owner's permission. Judge Carolyn Cliff found probable cause to support the charge and set bail at $2,500 bond or $500 cash.

According to court records, the vehicle owner met Burton at the Swinomish Casino on Fidalgo Island, a tribal gaming facility operated by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community off Highway 20 near Padilla Bay. The owner gave Burton a ride west through Deception Pass to Whidbey Island, where the two stopped near the Dike Road pullout to cook food over a beach campfire. Police say it was there that Burton drove away without permission.

The owner reported the car stolen the morning of March 27. An Oak Harbor police officer traveling home to Mount Vernon along Highway 20 recognized the Volvo, made a traffic stop, and detained Burton on the same corridor the car had allegedly used to leave the island.

Burton told officers the owner had given him permission to use the car to "build shelves and storage boxes for his stuff." The owner disputes that account in his police report.

The sequence from casino introduction to beachside campfire to Highway 20 arrest played out in under 24 hours. The owner's choice to report the car stolen the morning of March 27, rather than wait, gave officers the lead they needed to locate the vehicle before Burton had traveled far from the island. That prompt reporting, combined with a chance sighting by an off-route officer, closed the case quickly in circumstances where hours of delay often mean a vehicle is never recovered.

Under RCW 9A.56.075, taking a motor vehicle without permission in the second degree is a Class C felony in Washington State, carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Prosecutors filed the second-degree charge; the first-degree version, a Class B felony, carries up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Washington remains among the worst states in the nation for vehicle theft even as rates have improved. The state's 2023 rate of 639.3 thefts per 100,000 people ranked second nationally and was the highest in nearly a decade. By 2024, that figure had dropped to approximately 375.1 per 100,000, representing about 29,471 statewide thefts, though Washington still ranked sixth-worst nationally. The FBI recorded a nearly 40 percent increase in Washington motor vehicle thefts from 2021 to 2022 alone.

Burton's case will continue in Island County Superior Court, where prosecutors will decide whether to file additional charges.