Posted on 12/17/2001 3:23:25 PM PST by katykelly
12.17.01 Man's hunch leaves alleged java shop burglar in hot water
By GARY HARMON The Daily Sentinel
Most people might dismiss it as one of those weird feelings that out of the blue, pays off, like picking the 100-to-1 shot or finding a rare gold piece in the vending-machine change.
Robert Kettle, though, will tell you it's much more than that.
And Justin Barhite, well, he might never figure out what hit him.
In order to decide for yourself, go back to the beginning, back to Nov. 21, when Kettle, a 44-year-old man who is developmentally disabled and works three jobs, was first to arrive at Colorado Java House, 502 Colorado Ave., one of the places where he's employed, to discover the place had been robbed and $400 was missing. Problem was, this was a clean burglary, no evidence of forced entry.
It was slick enough to look like an inside job and that, said owner Sid Squirrell, is exactly what Grand Junction police suspected.
The burglary went unsolved for nearly a month and the atmosphere of general suspicion might well have contributed to Kettle's frame of mind when he decided, sometime after midnight Sunday, that something was bothering him.
"I got to wondering about that lock" on one of the doors, he said.
Rather than just hop on his bike and head for the shop about a 10-minute ride away, Kettle took a precaution.
“A voice said ‘Go, but call 911,’ ” said Kettle. "And I did."
The voice, he said, pointing to a black-and-white drawing of Jesus, was that of the "son of God."
Now maybe it was just a voice of caution, one that might suggest to anyone about to embark on a midnight journey to check some locks on a store on a dark corner that it might be a good idea to alert the police, who might otherwise leap to understandable if erroneous conclusions.
Either way, Kettle was onto something.
As he pedaled his way through the dark, a police officer was near the Java House when the alert came in through dispatch.
Already in the area, the officer noted that someone was there and promptly began conducting an interview, the upshot of which was the discovery of a key that fit the front door and, in the trunk of the suspect's car, $373, complete with deposit slips from the shop.
Kettle, who pulled up about then, said he was surprised to see that someone had apparently been in the store.
It was pretty clear to him, though, that the string of events was no accident. It was Jesus who started the chain of events, he said, but he was happy to be part of it.
The arrest was a relief to everyone else who worked at the Java House, said Squirrell, because the mystery of the inside job had been solved.
Probably not quite so relieved, though, was Barhite, 18, of 624 Panorama Drive, who was booked into the Mesa County Jail in connection with both burglaries soon after he was interviewed outside the shop. He was free the next day on $7,500 bond.
So was it all happenstance or something higher?
"We need," said Kettle, "to have faith."
Next thing you know, I'll be doing graphics <(not>.
katykelly, you've been here forever, babe, and this is your first post?
Ya did good, sweetie! Smootches......FRegards
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