Crime & Safety

Lakewood Det. Ryan Larson Named Washington's Most Wanted Officer of the Month

While watching the show with his daughter last month, the Lakewood Police officer saw two fugitives whom he had spotted earlier. His tip to the on-duty sergeant led to their arrest. He will appear on the show that airs Friday.

This weekend on Washington’s Most Wanted on Q13 FOX, Lakewood Det. Ryan Larson receives the March Officer of the Month Award for helping catch 3 Pierce County fugitives on one week.

Det. Larson tells WMW Host David Rose who presented the award to him on behalf of Crime Stoppers programs state-wide, “I just want to thank my department for the freedom and support they give me to conduct some very interesting investigations and to go after some really bad guys. Also I'd like to thank my family for understanding that I often have to work some crazy hours and may dress rather odd and do some odd things so thank you."

Det. Larson watches the show with his daughter.  The next day, he spotted fugitives Eileen Dilbeck and her boyfriend Joseph Williams who both had warrants for their arrest. He called the on-duty Seargent who pulled up the fugitives photos from www.catchwmw.com and emailed them to him to confirm it was them. 

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Det. Larson says,  "Right away after they got arrested, I sent my daughter a text immediately. I think she was probably at basketball practice or something. She was probably more excited than I was because we had just seen them."

Just a few days later, he made a third arrest with the capture of WMW fugitive Dominic Johnson who was wanted for two counts of domestic violence and one count of Unlawful Solicitation to Possess a Controlled Substance.

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"It was actually a great example of some work that the Lakewood police has been able to do thanks to partnership and some task forces we built with the FBI, ATF, DEA and particularly with Homeland Security Investigations. Because of the partnerships and task forces, we've been able to go after some really bad people doing some really bad things."

Assistant Chief Mike Zaro says,  "Ryan is just one of those guys who just has a nose for getting into the dirt and finding the bad guys and in this case, it paid off while he was off on his own time and you just can't say enough about that kind of dedication and vigilance to be doing something as simple as pumping gas and noticing people around you and noticing people that are wanted by the law it's an incredible example of his vigilance and dedication to the job.”

Det. Larson will accept his award Friday night at 10:30 on Washington’s Most Wanted on Q13 FOX.

-Washington's Most Wanted


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