Skip to main content
Last month, WW examined a spate of break-ins at Artichoke Music, the nonprofit folk-music shop and venue on Southeast Powell Boulevard. An early-morning burglary Nov. 20 was the eighth break-in over four years. It was also the worst: The culprits walked out with four guitars valued at $8,000.
Police now say they’ve caught the thieves. And in indictments issued Jan. 22, prosecutors say Artichoke was just one bite the burglars took.
Multnomah County prosecutors say Courtney Carlile and Joshua Lucero were part of a 10-member burglary ring that targeted more than 100 Portland-area restaurants, bars and lounges for six months, using crowbars and battery-powered handheld saws to force their way into businesses and cut open their safes. Carlile, 27, is charged with 35 criminal counts, while Lucero faces 50. Both are charged with felony burglary.
In the indictments, Carlile is charged with two counts of first-degree burglary and one count of first-degree theft (all felonies) for the Nov. 20 break-in at Artichoke Music. Lucero is not indicted for that burglary.
At a Friday press conference, held in Artichoke Music’s concert hall, police and prosecutors stood next to a poster of Woody Guthrie and described the scale of the burglary ring as astonishing. They said the targeted businesses ranged from Old Town Brewing in Northeast Portland to the Flipside food-cart pod in outer Southeast. Probable cause affidavits allege Carlile and Lucero hit two different locations of the local pasta chain Grassa.
“Quite frankly, this is one of the largest burglary rings that I’ve seen in my over two decades of time as a prosector,” Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said. “The fact that we’re talking about nearly a hundred businesses is absolutely infuriating.”
Authorities offered few details about how the ring worked, other than saying that Carlile and Lucero allegedly used the proceeds to move from motel to motel and enjoy fine dining.
As WW reported in December, the guitars stolen in the Nov. 20 break-in were being sold at Artichoke Music on consignment. Anonymous donors paid for the cost of the guitars, and loyal Artichoke regulars helped erect plywood and new gates on the shop.
Artichoke executive director Shelley Garrett expressed gratitude to Police Detective Elliott Walker, who identified Carlile as a suspect using surveillance video.
“We are so grateful for the work by the Portland Police, especially Detective Walker!” she wrote in an email to WW. “Although this burglary was heartbreaking, our Artichoke Music Community really stepped up holding several benefit concerts, donating instruments for us to sell in our music store...and donating money, materials and time to help us minimize the loss and enhance our onsite security.”