Four arrested in connection with Fat Smitty’s robbery

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The third time wasn’t so charming for a group of alleged burglars hoping to relieve Fat Smitty’s restaurant of some low-hanging cash.

Three men and a woman were arrested early Thanksgiving morning after they allegedly broke into the restaurant near Discovery Bay and stole dollars that had been stapled to the walls of the business.

Fat Smitty’s has been burglarized three times this year, according to a Facebook post by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and thieves have stolen money off the walls that is collected for charities.

In the thefts, burglars have damaged the restaurant’s doors or windows to get inside, and deputies responded to this week’s break-in after an audible alarm went off at the business at 2 a.m. Thursday.

The four were arrested after Sgt. Ryan Menday Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office thought thieves could headed to Kitsap County and started for Highway 104, which spans Hood Canal.

“He encountered the only vehicle on the highway at the time, which quickly darted into a residential neighborhood upon seeing his patrol car,” the sheriff’s office said in online post.

Menday ultimately spoke with the suspects, who reportedly matched the description provided by other deputies who were viewing the surveillance video: “It didn’t take a detective to see that the inscribed dollar bills still protruding from the pockets of the suspects was evidence of their crime.”

Fat Smitty's famously encourages customers to personalize bills and tack them to the walls and ceiling of the establishment, with the currency later being periodically collected and donated to charity.

Four suspects, all from Kitsap County, were taken into custody.

Michelle L. Witmarsh, 28, was arrested for an outstanding felony warrant. The others arrested were Spencer A. Schenk, 25; Daniel R. Schwartz, 25; and Michael D. Smith, 34.

Deputies also found what appeared to be drug paraphernalia in the car, and the vehicle was impounded so officers could get a search warrant.

Schenk, Schwartz and Smith remained in custody in Jefferson County Jail Friday.

The investigation is ongoing, according to the sheriff’s office, to see if the suspects arrested Thursday were responsible for the prior burglaries.

Recently, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office asked the public for help to identify two suspects allegedly connected to a recently burglary at Fat Smitty’s after two men broke into the restaurant  and proceeded to take “several dollar bills from the establishment” at about 3 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13.

The two men came to the attention of authorities after using several conspicuously marked bills at a store in Poulsbo.