Drunken Man With An Appetite Swapped Furniture With Absent Neighbors

A Washington state man allegedly swapped furniture with a couple who left their apartment for a weekend, but he left a few calling cards behind for the police.

The man had a willing friend help him when he swapped the furniture and allegedly took quite a few other items, according to the News Tribune.

According to the man accused of masterminding the furniture switch, he heard from another neighbor that the Lakewood couple was considering moving to a different place. Thinking the couple had moved, he decided whatever was left in the apartment was a free-for-all. After all, he told the police, the door was left wide open.

Wanting to take the furniture but not wanting to keep his own, the man made the decision to exchange some of his own furniture. He made the unlawful decision under the influence of alcohol and with the help of his buddy, according to the Huffington Post.

The unlucky couple returned home to find their living room furniture set gone. Instead they found a recliner and a TV stand they did not recognize, along with empty beer bottles and pizza boxes.

Upon further inspection, the couple realized their lamps, end tables, TV stand, various decorations, and even a box of women’s shoes were stolen. Pots and pans, food, dishes, and even the king-sized mattress from the bedroom were gone.

Military equipment, an ironing board, a papasan chair, and other items were also missing.

The police were called and found a receipt for the pizza and a parking ticket. The name on the pizza receipt belonged to the man’s friend. He denied taking anything, but did admit he ordered the food.

The parking ticket had the name and address of the first man who claimed the door was left wide open. As it turned out, it was not the first time a man with his last name had broken into the same apartment. This man’s own brother used a blocked off crawlspace to enter the apartment when different tenants lived there, according to the News Tribune.

The man who allegedly swapped the furniture lives with his brother. The police believe he used the same crawlspace his brother used in the other incident to enter the apartment this time around.

The man and his friend both pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of residential burglary for taking the furniture and numerous other items, and the men swapped their own homes for jail cells on Thursday.