Deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office passed the hat to help out a father and daughter who lost nearly everything they owned when their landlord threw away their possessions, including a family heirloom, two rifles and a tablet owned by a school district.

The gift of nearly $800 helped to give the father a renewed sense of hope as he tried to rebuild the devastated family’s lives, according to a report by Deputy Joseph Urich.

Meanwhile, the landlord, 67-year-old Nancy Lee Griffin, is facing the possibility of prison time for her actions.

Prosecutors charged Griffin in Island County Superior Court May 2 with theft in the first, second and third degree as well as two counts of theft of a firearm.

Two of the theft allegations were charged with aggravating factors, which could increase the sentence beyond the standard range of 15 to 20 months in prison. Specifically, the factors alleged that the victims were especially vulnerable and that Griffin invaded the victims’ privacy, abused her position of trust and acted in a way that “manifested deliberate cruelty.”

On Jan. 10, 2022, the renter reported to law enforcement that Griffin had locked him and his 11-year-old daughter out of their home and threw away their possessions.

Griffin claimed that, under the rental contract, the renter had abandoned the apartment because he wasn’t home for three days, according to the Urich’s report. The man had alerted Griffin that he was stuck in Seattle after his vehicle broke down and was delayed in returning home.

The deputy noted, however, that the lease states that the apartment would be considered abandoned if the renter was gone for three days and owed money. Both the man and Griffin agreed that the rent had been paid, the deputy reported.

Griffin had more than $10,000 worth of the family’s possessions taken to the dump, the report states. That included a shotgun, a rifle, furniture, all of the clothing, a legal box filled with important documents, family photos and keepsakes and even all the food. She also threw away a 300-year-old Crow war shield that had been passed down through the generations of the man’s family, the deputy wrote.

Griffin admitted to chucking a Chromebook owned by the Stanwood/Camano school district, the report noted.

In an interview with deputies, the man described how Griffin invaded his privacy while he was renting. She went into his apartment without permission more times than he could count and even rearranged his property and did his laundry, the report states. She became angry when he locked his bedroom door and hired a contractor to open it while he was away, the report states.

The deputies went to the Camano Island transfer station to try to find the items that had been dumped. The employees offered to look through a container, but deputies deemed it was too dangerous because of the tons of potentially hazardous materials.

The report indicates that the investigation was delayed for months because the deputy was unable to reach the victim, who didn’t have access to a phone for some time.