A Bainbridge Island man was arrested Sunday for first-degree trafficking in stolen property and third-degree possession of stolen property, and authorities allege he was involved in a string of nine burglaries on the island — plus eight more in Poulsbo and Silverdale — over the past three months.

Zachary Joseph Nelson, 34, was charged with second-degree trafficking in stolen property in Kitsap County District Court on Monday, Oct. 26.

Bainbridge police said Nelson is one of three suspects in the recent spike of burglaries and thefts reported on the island.

Authorities allege that Nelson sold a gold ring that was set with a single pearl to a pawn show in Bremerton in September. The ring had been taken, along with other jewelry, from a burglary at a home on Reitan Road in mid-September.

Police found a copy of a pawn slip for the ring earlier this month in the purse of the third suspect in the recent string of burglaries and thefts, which Bainbridge police said started in August and continued into early October. The crime spree, which included three burglaries in Poulsbo and five in Silverdale, followed the same pattern.

Nelson’s arrest came after police found a pawn slip for the ring, which was dated on Sept. 16, in the purse of one of his acquaintances.

The slip showed Nelson had pawned the ring at Bremerton Cash America and had gotten $60 in return.

Police found the pawn slip on Oct. 8, then retrieved the ring from the pawn shop. A photograph of the ring was shown to the victim of the Reitan Road burglary, and she identified the ring as one of the things stolen during the break-in at her home.

Police arrested Nelson Oct. 25 and he told police that he was a friend of the woman who had the pawn slip for the stolen ring in her purse.

Nelson told police that the woman gave him the ring and asked him to sell it at the pawn shop because she didn’t have identification.

He said his friend told him she loved him, but added that she was also a heroin addict. Nelson allegedly told police that he “should have known” the ring was stolen.

He also told police that he knew John Vincent Napora IV, a 37-year-old Bremerton man who was arrested earlier this month after police accused him of trafficking in stolen property after he was allegedly caught selling a bicycle that had been stolen from the storage area of a home on Wood Avenue on Bainbridge. That theft, which happened on Oct. 2 or Oct. 3, was one in the recent string of crimes on the island.

Nelson told police he did not know anything the recent burglaries and thefts on Bainbridge.

Nelson was booked into Kitsap County Jail Sunday night. Bail was set at $50,000.

Conviction of second-degree trafficking in stolen property can result in a maximum prison sentence of five years and a $10,000 fine.