A 58-year-old who police say cased a Hayden laundromat before returning to bust open the cash box in a vending machine could face 20 years in prison.

Martin P. Nisley, a transient, was arrested Sunday for allegedly breaking into at least one vending machine by prying it open with a crowbar and stealing the cash box.

Nisley’s bail was set at $75,000 Monday in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Magistrate Court, and police say he may have been involved in similar burglaries in Washington and possibly in Lewiston.

Nisley is accused locally of burglarizing the vending machines at the Cleanco Laundromat at 240 W. Hayden Ave. in January.

Business owner Patrick Boland reviewed in-house surveillance cameras that showed a man wearing a hat with a “DOPE” logo, acting suspiciously inside his dry cleaning and laundry business.

The man, who sported a gray beard and wore his glasses at the end of his nose, was also decked out in unusual boots with broad racing stripes.

When Boland reviewed the surveillance video after the burglary, it showed a man with his face covered, wearing the same boots and hat, and what appeared to be reading glasses at the end of his nose using a pry bar to break into vending machines.

The surveillance footage was turned over to Kootenai County deputies. Coeur d’Alene police helped track down Nisley, who had an outstanding warrant for an earlier crime. Nisley was driving west on I-90 around 10 p.m. Sunday in a 1998 Chevy Malibu when he was spotted by authorities.

Police found the hat with the “DOPE” logo inside the Malibu, as well as bolt cutters, hacksaws, pry bars — including one matching the pry bar used in the surveillance video — flashlights and head lamps, night vision goggles, a blonde wig and lock-picking tools, according to a police report.

Nisley told police he used the lock-picking tools to work on watches, but upon further questioning deputies said Nisley appeared to know very little about watches.

“I found it odd that Nisley would state that he worked on watches, but seemed to have no information on watches, nor did it appear Nisley was wearing a watch,” Deputy Arek Brock wrote in his police report.

Police said Nisley may be tied to similar burglaries at North Idaho College, as well as at Spokane’s Gonzaga University, the Mirabeau Park Hotel and Carrington College. Lewiston police also suspect he may have been involved in unsolved fraud cases in Lewiston.

Police Lt. Jeff Klone said Nisley is a suspect in credit card fraud cases spanning the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

Nisley may have used stolen credit cards to rack up thefts valued in the thousands of dollars in stores including Walmart and North 40 Outfitters, Klone said.

Those incidents are still under investigation.

Burglary is a felony that carries from one to 20 years in prison. A Feb. 21 preliminary hearing has been set for Nisley, who has an outstanding warrant from Colorado, according to court records.