Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes this morning:

STOLEN CAR: Watch for Brian‘s car, a “light blue 91 Toyota Camry stolen last night from in front of my house on 60th and Admiral.” (map) As noted in the SPD @getyourcarback tweet (which includes the plate #), please call 911 if you see it.

STOLEN GAS? From Jon at 38th/Graham {map):

I want to report what seems to be a case of gas siphoning from my vehicle. This morning at 5:20 am, I came out to my truck to go to work. As I was waiting for it to warm up (it’s an older truck) I noticed the gas gauge dropping down to empty. I had just filled up last week and had only done 73 miles, so it should have been over 3/4 full. When the gauge hit zero, I turned the engine off and checked underneath for a fuel leak – nothing. I looked at the gas cap door and saw that it was bent and easily opened. I don’t have a locking gas cap, so I think someone has been siphoning off gas from my truck.

Jon’s household also has a car but he says it was not touched.

First indecent-exposure case we’ve heard of since January – e-mailed late Saturday night by a reader in North Admiral:

We just filed a police report because my 11-year-old daughter and her 10-year-old friend were bike riding this afternoon at about 4:30 near 44th Ave. SW and Sunset Ave. SW and experienced an incident of lewd conduct. A man who looked to be in his late 20s, dark hair, dark skin tones, was naked in the back seat of a black SUV. He opened the door, exposing himself to the girls. The girls left the scene and were unharmed but we were of course very concerned.

Two reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

First, a street attack/robbery for which we finally have the police report – we heard about it from the victim’s sister early yesterday, but it happened around 2 am Tuesday. The victim works nights at Home Depot and was taking a break out walking northbound on Delridge at Orchard when he was attacked and robbed by three men who told him not to run as they passed him on the street. He started to walk away, and they followed him, so he started to run, and they chased him. One caught up with him and pulled him down to the ground in the crosswalk at Delridge and Orchard; the two others started punching him and kicking him, and reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet. The police report says two witnesses who saw the attack from outside the nearby Tug Inn told the same story. The only descriptive information given by the witnesses and victim was that all three attackers were male and black, the first attacker about 6’3″ and wearing a gray plaid long-sleeved polo shirt, the other two in their teens/early twenties, one wearing a gray hoodie and gray pants, the other with dreadlocks and white shorts. Police arrived within four minutes of the first call, the report says, and called in K-9s to try to track the attackers, but they were unsuccessful. The victim’s sister says her brother is doing better but was hurt pretty badly from being kicked in the head.

Our second report is from the “in case you wondered” files – thanks to Marika for the tip last night that police had converged on West Seattle Coins at California/Oregon.

A window was shattered, but so far as police could determine, it wasn’t a burglary – there was no sign anyone had entered.

During Tuesday night’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting (full report to come), Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Wilske listed Lincoln Park as one of his emphasis priorities for the summer season, particularly because of its ongoing car-prowl problem. The first of two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports includes another example of that:

Michelle reports a car break-in during the West Seattle High School tennis team’s game at the Lincoln Park tennis courts on Monday. She says two backpacks with “several valuable items” were stolen from the trunk of a Honda Accord, and the debit cards in those backpacks were used quickly at stores including Roxbury Safeway. The car break-ins have been reported to police and they are hoping to find clues on store surveillance video. If you find any tossed-aside backpacks, and/or personal paperwork, please report it to police.

Ahead, our second reader report – the case of the unauthorized tree-cutter:
Read More

Another stolen-vehicle report this morning – this time on the west side of The Junction – and this one should be very recognizable. From Adam at Clean Air Lawn Care (WSB sponsor):

We just realized that one of the trucks that we use for our business was stolen overnight. It’s a 2013 White Chevy Silverado 1500, license plate number B08424Y. The kicker is, the truck is logoed with Clean Air Lawn Care all over the sides and back, including our phone number 206-941-4180 and website www.cleanairlawncareseattle.com. If anyone sees this truck, can you please call us or the police immediately.

Auto theft in The Triangle today; Lori hopes you will watch for her SUV:

Our green 2007 Honda CRV, license plate #425XBU, was stolen from the West Seattle Family YMCA around 12:30 pm today, along with my husband Charlie’s wallet and keys. Someone broke into his locker while he was working out, took the keys and wallet, and sped off in the car. A police report has been filed, case # 14-122027, and we appreciate people keeping an eye out for it.

A brand-new update on SPD Blotter answers some questions we’d been looking into involving police presence at and near Lincoln Park late last night. Police responding to a report of some kind of fight in the park around 11 pm found a teenager who said another teen had stolen his phone. They found and arrested a suspect – and recovered the stolen phone – on a bus south of the park. Read the full summary on SPD Blotter.

One other Crime Watch report in queue: Another North Admiral car prowl this week; the victim, who didn’t want her name to be published, said, “Our vehicle’s window was broken (Wednesday night). We heard a loud sound around 9:30 pm and saw a white commercial van with blue lettering driving away. We didn’t think anything of it and then discovered the broken window (in the) morning. Nothing was stolen.” (One more reminder: Even if nothing’s taken, even if there’s no damage, police say, please report car prowls! You can even do that online.)

(WSB photo of getaway car stopped in Arbor Heights, August 21, 2013)
We’re back at the King County Courthouse, where Superior Court Judge Dean Lum has just sentenced two of the three men arrested for last August’s night of armed street robberies in Arbor Heights (where they were caught thanks in part to alert witnesses), Fauntleroy, and Beacon Hill. (As reported here last month, all three pleaded guilty.)

First, 22-year-old Najib A. Aden, who had not been in jail since , as he had posted bail.

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Four reader reports to share today, starting with a package theft caught on video:

Pam says the video shows her Netflix Amazon package being lifted Wednesday afternoon near 12th and Barton – and right before the person comes fully into view, they took mail out of her mailbox. Recognize the person in the video? (Added: Here’s a frame grab.) Let police know.

Ahead, three more reports – a car prowl, illegal dumping, and suspicious nail-scattering:

Read More

(Stephen Jeffries, Jr. and children)
A new effort is under way to try to solve one of West Seattle’s unsolved murders. 40-year-old Stephen Jeffries, Jr., a father of four and 20-year Seattle Public Utilities employee, died after someone shot him at a New Year’s Eve party in South Delridge. We just received this announcement of two events ahead:

The family will be holding a fundraiser to raise money for a reward toward finding his killer. This will take place April 26th, 10 am – 1 pm at the Puerto Vallarta in West Seattle Junction on California Avenue. The family will also have a candlelight vigil May 1st, which will be four months to the date of Stephen Jeffries, Jr.’s murder with no arrest. It will be held directly across the street from 9215 16th Ave SW, at 7:30 pm- 8:30 pm.

If you have any information, the Seattle Police Homicide Tipline is the number to call – even if anonymously – 206-233-5000.

(Mr. Jeffries was one of two West Seattle murder victims last year, both killed in December; a suspect was arrested and charged last month in the other case, that of 46-year-old Nga Nguyen.)

(WSB photo from the aftermath of the incident in November 2012)
Another West Seattle criminal case of note has ended in a plea bargain. Checking the cases on our watch list, we just discovered that 38-year-old Amy Lynn O’Brien has pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and hit-and-run. She’s the woman arrested in November 2012 for deliberately driving her car into two Chief Sealth International High School students across the street from the school. According to charging documents, O’Brien was upset about the 17- and 18-year-old girls’ interaction with her unleashed dog, and came after them with a taser and then her car, hitting them while driving at an estimated 40 mph. Both were badly hurt; one girl’s ear was nearly severed. O’Brien turned herself in the next day and spent about a week in jail before being released on personal recognizance. Court documents related to the plea bargain say a six-month sentence will be recommended when she is sentenced May 30th.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports – first, a stolen car:

The photo and report were texted (206-293-6302 any time); the car is described as a 1997 Honda EK Civic hatchback stolen last night from the owner’s home near 17th and Henderson (map). It’s been reported to police, so please call 911 if you see it.

Second – Leeann reports a package theft in the 5400 block of 25th SW (map): “Just wanted to let you know that we had a package shipped to us that was tracked and shows being delivered on 4/9, but was nowhere to be found when we got home.” This too has been reported to police.

P.S. Next Tuesday is the monthly West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting; if you have a neighborhood crime/safety concern, come and bring it to the attention of precinct management. 7 pm at the Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster; map), also featuring, after crime-trend updates and neighborhood-concern comment time, a presentation about the SPD Crisis Intervention Team.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

At the King County Courthouse this afternoon, Puerto Vallarta restaurant owner Eduardo Morales-Cardenas was sentenced to just under one year with electronic home monitoring, plus community service, for buying stolen liquor.

One of his four co-defendants, Eric Olson, was sentenced immediately afterward. We recorded video of both hearings; and are uploading it now. (added 4:31 pm) here’s the first clip we have available, picking up after the prosecution recapped the case:

First, the proceedings involving Morales-Cardenas. As reported here two weeks ago, he pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree trafficking in stolen property and one count of attempted trafficking in stolen property. The case first came to light last September, when he was arrested and his Junction restaurant and home searched in connection with an investigation of what authorities said was a liquor-theft ring mostly targeting supermarkets. Court documents indicated that alleged stolen property was confiscated; charges were filed in November.

Presiding at the sentencing was King County Superior Court Judge Carol Schapira. Prosecutor Susan Storey called the sentencing recommendation “a very good result”; she explained that “a significant quantity of liquor … and cash” was seized in the search of Morales-Cardenas’s properties, and that $15,000 cash would be kept and turned over to theft victims as restitution.

Morales-Cardenas spoke to the judge and said he apologized, and that he has been working for the community in West Seattle for 22 years. He said he is alcohol and drug free and that he likes to keep a liquor collection in his house and he was sorry it’s been seized. He said that he was trying to help Michael Jensen, one of the other co-defendants, go straight. He said some of what was found in his garage was there because he was helping Jensen. He said he “made a couple mistakes … I’m sorry … I’m not a ringleader for (liquor thefts) …” He also told the judge he was upset with WSB for reporting on his arrest and prosecution, and alleged that we had not taken his calls, and that our reporting of the story had harmed his business.

(For the record, we have no record of him calling us; the only communication we received was from a person who called and e-mailed us a few weeks ago, saying he was a friend of Morales-Cardenas, who, he said, would be interested in talking with us if we wanted to talk to him. We replied to the friend that Morales-Cardenas was welcome to contact us via the same e-mail address the friend had used; we never received a reply nor any communication from him. We repeat what we told the friend – he is welcome to contact us, editor@westseattleblog.com or 206-293-6302, the same communication channels to which we reply around the clock, 7 days a week. Or if he wishes to send a statement for publication, he is welcome to do that too.)

Before he spoke, Morales-Cardenas’s lawyer said that his client “is sorry (and) has suffered financially. … he understands the harm that has resulted from this, to the victims and the people around him … (it’s) threatened his business and his employees … it’s an aberration in what has otherwise been a very positive life.” He said Morales-Cardenas, who has no prior criminal record, already has done 50 hours of community service, including work at the Senior Center of West Seattle and is looking forward to helping out there more.

Those speaking to the court also included King County Sheriff’s Office Deputy B.J. Myers, lead investigator who “sunk his teeth into the case, he did a phenomenal job,” despite not being a detective, Storey told the judge. Myers said he got involved in the case because of the “effect … (the liquor thefts were) having in the White Center neighborhood … the crimes fueled (other defendants’) drug habit,” leading to thefts and disorderly conduct by others. “So I recognized that these suspects were affecting the peace of White Center and that building this case was going to make a difference. … The defendant (Morales-Cardenas) was the one who was purchasing the stolen liquor from these thieves … in effect incentivizing the effect these thieves were having on the White Center neighborhood. … Even though this is a different kind of case for a community police officer to (become involved in), we’ve seen it have an effect on the neighborhood.” Also speaking, a risk manager from Safeway, one of the chains targeted by the thieves from whom prosecutors say Morales-Cardenas bought stolen liquor.

Following Morales-Cardenas’s sentencing, another defendant in the case, Eric Olson, was sentenced for pleading guilty to organized retail theft; he had been charged with stealing liquor from stores including Safeway, QFC, and Costco.

He told Judge Schapira he was “ashamed” of what he had done. She sentenced him to 41 months – just under 3 1/2 years – in prison, and restitution to be determined later.

As for the three other people charged in the case:

As we reported last month, Amber Vincent pleaded guilty in February to organized retail theft and trafficking in stolen property, and was sentenced to three months of work release; Shaye Glenn-Nitschke also pleaded guilty in February, to one charge, and was released from jail because he’d served more time than he had been sentenced to. A fourth defendant, Michael Jensen, has pleaded guilty to multiple charges and will be sentenced one week from today; he has a lengthy record and a 7 1/2-year sentence is recommended.

8:04 PM: Ellen‘s 2004 Trek 520 touring bike was stolen at 35th and Graham last weekend, and she’s offering a reward for its return.

· Dark green frame.
· Black fenders.
· Black back rack.
· Red bell.
· Right shifter bent.
· Pedals flat on one side/clips on other.
· Hand-built wheels.
· Three water bottle cages.
· Italian flag & $0.00 yellow stickers on back.
· Sentimental value.

40,000 miles ridden.

Please contact 206.297.1114 or 425.503.3262 – ellenellenwatermelon@yahoo.com

Or police.

ADDED 9:16 PM: We’ve just received a text about a white 1991 Honda Accord stolen a short time ago in Highland Park.

Awaiting a little more information – but in the meantime, if you see it, please call 911.

ADDED 10:41 PM: The car’s owner says the theft happened near 11th and Holden.

ADDED THURSDAY AFTERNOON: The car’s been found (outside WS) – but “trashed,” the owner reports.