Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports this afternoon. First one is from JR:

We were alerted today, by VISA, of unauthorized charges on our credit card and the card was shut down. I am wondering if others in West Seattle had the same thing happen to them in the last few days? If so I would love to compare purchases and payment locations directly with respondents in order to help the police in their their investigation. I will not specify the business specifically, but we used this card at the following West Seattle locations:

Two different fruit and vegetable stands
One restaurant at the Junction
The above charges were made on Friday.

On Saturday we bought coffee at a coffee shop in West Seattle and then went to Queen Anne lower hill where:
*We paid by card for parking at a parking lot west of Seattle Center
*We purchased stage theater tickets from a theater
*We bought sports merchandise at Seattle Center.

The fraudulent charges started after 4 PM Saturday. Don’t know if they occurred in West Seattle or Queen Anne.

I do not want to name any specific businesses, but if you have had your card number stolen and incurred fraudulent charges after using your credit card at any of the types of places meeting these descriptions, contact police and Visa Fraud division, 1-800-383-0618.

We also received a recent report of a credit-card number apparently stolen after being used at an area gas station; the person who e-mailed suspected a card skimmer, but we have not yet seen a police report verifying that. It all is a good reminder to check your credit-card account online as often as feasible – daily if you can – to catch something like this.

Meantime, we also received a car-theft report from Lee (39th and Hanford), who is puzzled:

Just noticed my car was stolen overnight. White ’88 Acura Legend. Real beater. Why anyone would steal the worst car on the block (and probably the entire neighborhood) is beyond me, but there you go. Irony is that I recently bought a newer, much nicer truck that was parked right behind it. And I’d already donated the Acura to charity and was just waiting for them to come pick it up.

Thanks to Jonathan for the tip on this (via one of his neighbors): The pharmacy at Bartell Drugs in Jefferson Square was robbed this morning and was closed for a few hours afterward. When we went over late this morning to check in person, the pharmacy was closed, but the store wouldn’t comment, referring us to corporate HQ, where spokesperson Rebecca Siegmund has just confirmed via e-mail:

There was a robbery at our store this morning at approximately 9:00 am. Everyone is fine and the pharmacy re-opened before noon. Due to the ongoing investigation we have no additional information to share.

We have an inquiry out to police to see if there’s any further information on circumstances or suspect descriptions.

ADDED 10:08 AM SUNDAY: A few more details from Southwest Precinct Lt. Von Levandowski – The robber “implied a gun, obtained assorted narcotics, and fled westbound on foot.” Description: White man, late 20s-early 30s, tan beanie, dark blue jacket, blue jeans, black New Balance tennis shoes.

Quick West Seattle Crime Watch note tonight: Karen with the Hansen View Neighborhood Blockwatch shares a heads-up about metal thefts in the alley between 35th and 36th (the 5000 block; here’s a map). A neighbor reported two incidents this past Monday: A locked garage broken into, with a lawn mover and metal bed-frame parts stolen; plus, a razor scooter “taken out of (a) recycling bin.” As the same neighbor also noted, that’s the same day we published this report of a pickup truck trolling alleys in an area not far from HV.

Tonight Seattle Police have published photos that they believe show two robbers suspected in five heists around the region – one of them in West Seattle, at the Admiral Way 7-11 on September 12th. The photos are from a Renton robbery about two weeks ago. One’s at left; you can see the others on the SPD Blotter.

We’re at the King County Courthouse, where Thomas Qualls has just made his first court appearance since pleading not guilty to three counts of second-degree assault. Those charges are a result of the incident at his Alki home one month ago (original WSB coverage here) in which police say that, after they responded to a call about suicidal threats, they wound up firing at Qualls as he fired an assault rifle at them. He was hit once in the abdomen and got out of the hospital less than a week after the incident; he was in a wheelchair for his court appearance today, but did not speak (this type of hearing, it should be noted, is not often an occasion for defendants to comment). The hearing was for “case-setting,” relatively routine; lawyers asked for extra time, and mentioned a potential plea-bargain offer (no details), while also saying they are still awaiting key reports in the case, including one for ballistics (the charges against Qualls carry “firearm enhancements”). If the case is not resolved sooner, the next court date will be in January. Qualls remains in King County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Just reported (thanks to Katie for the tip): Two men held up Papa John’s on California SW north of SW Brandon (map). They’re described on the scanner as one black, one Samoan, both wearing ski masks and gloves, dark clothing, both displayed guns. They were reported to have left through the back door. A K-9 unit is helping police search. Witnesses are telling police, according to scanner traffic, that they got away in a mid-’90s silver Acura with a “mismatched wheel on the passenger side.” Call 911 if you have any tips. 11 PM UPDATE: Per the scanner, a car close to the getaway car’s description – with a “slope” that may be related to the “mismatched wheel” – was seen speeding across the West Seattle Bridge and exiting to northbound I-5. (Could be a coincidence, though, so do still keep an eye out here.) 12:21 AM UPDATE: Added photo by Christopher Boffoli, as police continued to search the alley behind the restaurant, where the robbers were last seen.

10:17 AM UPDATE (WEDNESDAY): Just checked with police – according to Officer Renee Witt in the SPD Media Unit, neither the robbers nor their car have been found yet.

Tonight’s West Seattle Crime Watch starts with that surveillance video just in from a Highland Park resident near 5th SW and Cloverdale (map). He has just also given that video to police who are investigating the theft of a parcel from his doorstep, delivered today containing an “expensive motorcycle helmet” around 2 pm, then stolen, according to his surveillance camera, about three hours later. He says, “It amazes me that someone can get away with this in broad daylight, and has made me feel oddly violated – even though they didn’t enter my home.” If you recognize the car/person, call police.

Second of three items in Crime Watch tonight:

Local businesses are being warned by police about another string of business burglaries. The photo above was sent by Christopher Boffoli via iPhone about this time last night at the 38th/Alaska (map) construction site for Link, where police responded to a burglary alarm; site owner Harbor Properties tells WSB that nothing was taken. This coincides, though, with something else we’d been checking out: A WSB’er e-mailed to say he was in a West Seattle store when police officers came in to give shopkeepers a heads-up about area business break-ins. Lt. Norm James at the Southwest Precinct confirms: “We had 8 commercial burglaries last week that appear unrelated, but just to be on the safe side we started notifying businesses” – that, he says, is also part of the new Business Watch program (as reported here), a business version of Block Watch. (Sorry, we don’t have the burglary locations, so far.)

Third and final Crime Watch report tonight – just got this note, from a West Seattleite who didn’t want his name used, about a home break-in attempt:

I live in the 7500 block of 31st Ave SW [map]. My wife got home this afternoon at 2pm and she found that one of the patio furniture chairs had been removed from our deck and placed under a window in the backyard. Someone had tried to force the window open, failed, and tried to wipe away any indications of them having been there. Thankfully they were unable to get inside, we presume our dog and the neighbor’s dogs likely spooked the criminal. We notified the police who gave us an “event number” and spoke with a few neighbors, but no one saw or heard anything.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports from the inbox tonight – a stolen car to watch out for, and a case of “metal trolling” with a witness wondering if anything got stolen as a result – read on for details:Read More

We are at the King County Courthouse downtown, where Judge Carol Schapira presided over sentencings this afternoon, including that of 24-year-old Tyler Ljubich, found guilty in August of robbing West Seattle’s Westside Pharmacy during its post-closure inventory a year ago (here’s our original story). The prosecutor recommended the high end of the “standard sentencing range,” 41 to 54 months in prison, pointing out that witnesses testified Ljubich had a gun, though none was found, and that he had previously served prison time for shooting at a parked car in 2007 (as detailed in our earlier coverage); the defense requested the low end, saying that Ljubich had strong family support in the community (his father and two aunts were in the courtroom – the defense lawyer told the judge his mother died a few months ago) and was conducting himself well in jail, including taking classes. Judge Schapira went with the defense’s recommendation and sentenced Ljubich (the photo at right is from his previous prison term) to “the low end” of the range – he also will get credit for the year he has been in jail since his arrest, which happened in an incident that made news when he ran from police and wound up on the Schmitz Park Elementary campus.

Just in from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office: Charges are now filed against 20-year-old Shavelle Lewis, who had to be released from jail last night (WSB coverage here) because charges hadn’t been filed against her yet for the crash that killed 51-year-old William “Tony” Padilla, a driver for West Seattle-based GT Towing. She is charged with Vehicular Homicide and Felony Hit and Run, and a $150,000 warrant is out for her re-arrest. [Update: Lewis was booked back into jail at 6:23 pm.] We have the charging documents and will transcribe the narrative as soon as possible. ADDED 4:50 PM: The narrative from the charging documents (added in stages but complete as of 5:25 pm), after the jump:Read More

Thanks to those who called to let us know about a significant police presence at 32nd/Cloverdale, including officers with rifles out. Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James says it involved a report of an armed man apparently threatening to harm himself. He says the man is in custody.

(Flowers and a flag decorate the victim’s truck at the GT yard on Harbor Avenue)
ORIGINAL 12:22 PM UPDATE: Four days after the hit-run crash on I-5 that killed a driver for West Seattle-based GT Towing (here’s our Friday report), the suspect will be released from jail, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Today is the deadline for either filing charges or releasing the 20-year-old suspect, and KCPAO spokesperson Dan Donohoe says the case hasn’t yet been referred to their office by the Washington State Patrol, so no charges will be filed today, which means the law requires the suspect be released. That does NOT mean charges aren’t possible at a future date, however. The suspect, a 20-year-old woman, is believed to have been at the wheel when hit and killed 51-year-old GT driver William Padilla of Burien, known as Tony according to comments in our original report. We checked with GT, and they don’t have word on memorial arrangements for Mr. Padilla yet – most of his family, they say, is out of state. King County Jail records, meantime, show the suspect was in jail less than 24 hours before the crash, on a failure-to-appear warrant from a previous hit-run case, and that this was her fifth stay in the jail since February; the other cases also included prostitution arrests. (Note: As of 4:26 pm, she is still in jail.)

7:11 PM UPDATE: Just checked the jail register. The suspect is out as of just minutes ago (6:58 pm). As per a link noted by JanS in comments, the State Patrol told the Seattle Times that the case will be referred tomorrow, that the investigator did not want to rush it and make a mistake.

Thanks to Sara for the tip via Twitter about police activity at 20th/Holden (map) earlier this morning. We checked with Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James, who says they got a call about two men seen removing items from a vacant house there – one suspect ran away, one drove away, so nobody’s in custody so far. Another vacant house figures into an update this morning from Mariko regarding her stolen car (which was noted in this Crime Watch roundup last night):

Wanted to let you guys know that my car was recovered in a house that is for sale, but vacant. The SPD told me that the due to the large numbers of homes for sale that are vacant, many thieves find this the perfect place to store stolen cars. Just a good tip for neighbors that notice strange cars in driveways – they might be stolen.

And a crimefighting reminder – the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network has its first meeting in a few months tomorrow (Tuesday) night – more info on its website.

Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports from the WSB inbox in the past few days – a car theft, a car break-in, and a condo building repeatedly burglarized – read on:Read More