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OREGON CITY, Or. -- One of the individuals who broke into a Wilsonville liquor store in 2024 and stole more than $25,000 worth of alcohol was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.
Kyle Dean Runyon’s guilty plea also involves his participation in the burglary of a West Linn storage unit a few days before the liquor store heist.
Runyon, 36, of Ryderwood, Washington, pled guilty in Clackamas County Circuit Court to Burglary in the First Degree and two counts of Aggravated Theft in the First Degree. Other burglary and theft charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Runyon has numerous criminal convictions in Washington for assault, theft, burglary, possession of stolen property and car theft.
On October 20, 2024 around 2:53, a.m. Wilsonville police officers responded to a reported burglary at Stafford Beverage, 8315 SW Jack Burns Blvd. The store’s glass door had been shattered as had a display case.
Surveillance video showed three suspects smashing the front door, entering the business, breaking into the display case, grabbing numerous bottles of high-value alcohol then running out an emergency exit door. A fourth person allegedly served as a lookout. Value of the stolen merchandise totaled $25,132.15.
The stolen liquor included individual bottles of Patron Lllique Series One tequila (valued at $7,987.80 at the time of the theft), Bushmills 30-year-old single malt Irish whiskey ($2,199.95) and Macallan 30 Year Old, a single malt Scotch whisky ($5,499.95).
Jessica Nicole Van Hooser, 39, pleaded guilty in March to Burglary in the Second Degree and Aggravated Theft in the First Degree for her role in the liquor store theft. She was sentenced to 24 months’ probation and 20 days in jail. Van Hooser had no prior criminal history and felony sentencing guidelines require a probationary sentence.
Two other defendants, Jimmy Cristea, 40, and Connie May Lance, 54, both of Vancouver, Washington are scheduled for trial on October 6, 2026 on charges they participated in the liquor store and the West Linn storage facility thefts.
Runyon, Cristea and Lance were charged in the October 16, 2024 break in at a storage unit at 2400 Willamette Falls Dr. in West Linn where items valued more than $70,000 were stolen.
Thieves cut the lock on the storage unit. The owner notified police, who investigated the theft. The victim placed a new lock on the unit. Within hours, the thieves returned, cut the new lock and took more items.
After an intensive multi-agency investigation, law enforcement officers identified the suspects and served numerous search warrants. All of the items stolen from the storage unit were recovered.
Deputy District Attorney Tiffany Escover prosecuted the cases.
Runyon: Clackamas County Circuit Court case 25CR02787
Van Hooser: Clackamas County Circuit Court case 25CR05192
Cristea: Clackamas County Circuit Court case 25CR01435
Lance: Clackamas County Circuit Court case 25CR05201
