Burglary suspect forces Sierra House to be on lockdown

Students and staff at Sierra House Elementary School had some unexpected excitement this last week of school.

The school was on lockdown Wednesday afternoon when a nearby resident saw an uninvited visitor in her home.

“We set up a perimeter around the house to contain the suspect, and called the school to have them lockdown until we could arrest the suspect,” El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum said.

A resident of Musgrave Court, which is a couple blocks from the South Lake Tahoe school that is on Marshall Trail, saw a man in her house going through drawers. She called deputies from a neighbor’s house.

Arrested at the scene on suspicion of burglary was 39-year-old Brett Bartee.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report