Video triggers arrest in vandalism case

The owner of Confidential Investigations predicted Wednesday it wouldn’t be long before the vandal who broke windows and spray-painted obscenities in the foyer of the Hayden business would be caught.

And now there’s a suspect in jail.

The phones at Confidential Investigations were ringing off the hook Thursday after the company released video footage of the unmasked vandal staring directly into a security camera.

One name kept coming up: Darren Thiesen. One caller even told investigators where they could find him, working at a Coeur d’Alene car dealership.

Confidential owner Erin Jenkins said he stopped by Sunset Motors on Thursday and recognized Thiesen, 23, as the man on the tape. Jenkins said he used a hidden microphone to record a conversation in which Thiesen confessed.

“He panicked,” Jenkins said. “He saw that in the paper, and he knew it wasn’t going to be long before he was answering for it.”

Before leaving the dealership, Jenkins said, he got a photocopy of Thiesen’s driver’s license and later passed along the information – and the recorded confession – to detectives with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.

Thiesen was arrested Friday and booked into the Kootenai County Jail on felony charges of malicious injury to property and burglary.

Jenkins said Thiesen was reportedly upset about a criminal case that involved a client of the company and another man who was one of Thiesen’s friends.