Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share this morning – including a call for witnesses to a reported case of “road rage” – read on:Read More

Recognize any of that? It turned up night before last on Cheryl’s parking strip – left there while she was away for just a few hours. It appears to be the interior of a Honda. That’s one of three West Seattle Crime Watch reports out of the WSB inbox … this next one is from Howard:

Just wanted to let you guys know that sometime (Friday) night, our Nissan Xterra’s back window was smashed. It looks like it was a random act of vandalism because nothing was stolen, they didn’t even to attempt to open up any doors. The car was parked on the street in front of my house at 29th Ave SW and Cloverdale.

And from Adam via Twitter:

Bike theft, Hanford between 44th/45th this afternoon. Left my garage door open; when I came home around 6, my white Raleigh road bike was gone. … white Raleigh Record Ace with black custom fenders, head- and taillight.

Side note: Do you have a Block Watch? One last time before Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow retires, he’s leading a blockwatch-captain training event that’s being organized by the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains’ Network. It’ll be on March 7; full details here.

First, the latest stolen-car report we’ve received – from Andy:

Last night between 10 pm and 1 am some hoodlums stole my black 1997 Nissan Maxima from the street in front of our house, which is located on the 5200 block of 45th Avenue SW. Most importantly, my golf clubs are in the trunk. Police report was filed… just sharin’ the love. License number 192 ZGB, if anyone spots the vehicle please report to police. Black Maxima, my kids like to write letters in the dirt on the doors, so that’s another identifying characteristic, golf clubs are Nike Procombos :(

Here’s the SPD tweet on that. Second, an update from Tina, whose family car was stolen for the second time in a year in the Genesee area, just as she and her cancer-patient husband were about to head out of state with it – she says it was found in South Park: “For the second time, they stole the car, stripped the brake light modulator, then dumped the car. We’re still waiting to hear about the trailer and our belongings. The crooks also stole a family heirloom that was very important to my recently deceased mother.”

We just spoke again to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, which finished its notifications this morning and is confirming that the man stabbed to death in his Fauntleroy home as 60-year-old Robert Stabile, much better known as the entertainer in the video clip above – Professor Hokum W. Jeebs.

He once told a Seattle Times interviewer (for this 2002 story) he only used his real name on his income-tax forms. As Hokum Jeebs, he co-founded West Seattle’s iconic Kenyon Hall in 1993, as Hokum Hall. It gained a reputation as a quirky vaudeville palace; you can read a bit of background here, if you weren’t around back then.

He had a 30-plus-year career of performing vaudeville, with comedy and keyboards, around the world. (There’s more biographical information here.)

As reported last night, police have arrested a suspect, who is expected in court for a bail hearing at 2:30 pm today. (Research indicates he has a juvenile record out of state including assault and burglary charges.) At and after that court appearance, more information will be released about what police believe to be the circumstances of the case. The Medical Examiner’s Office has the cause of death officially listed as “multiple stab wounds.” We have no information yet about a memorial but will report it if and when we do.

5:27 PM: A suspect was booked into King County Jail this afternoon for investigation of homicide – and Southwest Precinct commander Captain Steve Paulsen confirms it’s a suspect in the Fauntleroy murder early this morning (here’s our previous coverage). He will not comment on whether it’s the person that WSB commenters mentioned seeing in the area, but he does say – as he has said in connection with other recent arrests – thanks to watchful residents for reporting suspicious circumstances and sightings. More to come; we’re researching the background of the person who’s been booked into jail.

6:16 PM UPDATE: The suspect is 19 years old, according to SeattleTimes.com (WSB partner). There is no one in Washington state/county/city criminal records with the name that’s listed on the jail roster (also, to answer another question that’s been asked, the suspect’s surname is not the same as that of anyone listed in public records as living in the household where the stabbing happened). We should have a lot more information through the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office after an anticipated bail hearing tomorrow. Meantime, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet announced the victim’s identity, and we won’t publish an ID, either in a news story or comments, until it has been made public either by authorities or by the victim’s family.

6:48 PM UPDATE: SPD Blotter also has just noted the arrest, but no additional information.

Collected from the inbox in recent days, seven West Seattle Crime Watch reports – two with photos of loot to be on the lookout for (one of those photos is related to a burglary already reported here). It’s all after the jump:Read More

65-year-old Gregory Paul Hess is now charged in the videotaped stickup at Roxbury Shell that brought him the nickname “Polite Robber” – eight years after, as we first reported early Tuesday, he gained infamy as the “Transaction Bandit.” The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Hess with one count of first-degree robbery for last Saturday’s heist. The charging documents reveal a few new details about what happened after the videotaped robbery: First, the station owner didn’t just stand there – he called 911 and then walked out into the parking lot to try to get the license-plate number of the vehicle the robber got away in. The King County Sheriff’s Office (which has jurisdiction because the gas station is outside city limits) got “several tips” on the Monday after the robbery, all identifying the man on the video as Gregory Hess. A detective looked up the name and found it belonged to a 65-year-old man on probation after serving time for bank robbery; federal probation authorities had an address for him in the Top Hat area, and investigators got a search warrant (after the robbery victim identified Hess in a photo lineup). When they found him there, the charging papers say, he told them, “I’m the one you’re looking for.” He also is reported to have pointed them to the pellet gun used during the robbery. While being questioned, authorities say, Hess confessed, saying he got $200 from the robbery and used it to buy food and gas and to pay a cell-phone bill, then depositing the remaining $90 in his bank account. Tonight, he remains in jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, and his arraignment is set for two weeks from today. (Photo: Washington Department of Corrections)

(Starkenburg at left)
Here at the King County Courthouse, 46-year-old Duane Starkenburg has just appeared for arraignment on the charges he’s facing in connection with three attacks on women in Lincoln Park. He has been out of jail since two days after his January 25th arrest; he arrived at court in a suit and tie. With King County Superior Court Judge Ronald Kessler presiding, Starkenburg pleaded not guilty to the two indecent-liberties charges and one attempted-indecent-liberties charge against him. Prosecutors asked not only that he continue to be prohibited from being in Lincoln Park, but also that he be prohibited from being in any public park or “marked walking or jogging trail” in King County, “for the safety of the community.” The judge agreed. Starkenburg’s bail status has not changed; he remains free on $175,000 bond. Next up in the case: A hearing on March 28th. (Photo credits: Top, Tracy Record/WSB; right, Mike Siegel/Seattle Times, republished with permission)

An update this morning in the case of accused Lincoln Park attacker Duane Starkenburg, the 46-year-old Gatewood man out on bond after being charged in connection with three incidents in which women say they were tackled and assaulted, most recently two weeks ago, the day he was arrested. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says Starkenburg’s arraignment has been moved up a day. Instead of appearing this Thursday, he is now scheduled to appear tomorrow at 8:30 am in King County Superior Court downtown, room E-1201. (For those who have asked about the process – arraignment is usually a fairly short hearing at which a suspect enters a plea, though multiple defendants are usually scheduled in that courtroom simultaneously, and it could be some time after 8:30 before he appears.) KCPAO spokesperson Dan Donohoe says the charges against him remain the same ones filed week before last – two counts of indecent liberties, one count of attempted indecent liberties.

WSB policy is usually not to identify crime suspects until they are charged. But there are a few exceptions – same ones we had while in citywide media – including cases in which the person is photographed/videotaped actually committing the crime. So with that said, we are reporting that 65-year-old Gregory Paul Hess is the man arrested in Top Hat and then booked into King County Jail late last night on suspicion of being the so-called “polite” robber who was videotaped (here’s KING5‘s original story) holding up the Roxbury Shell last Saturday morning.

Announcing the arrest on Monday afternoon, King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart mentioned that the suspect had been previously convicted of armed robbery. Researching Hess’s background last night and this morning, we discovered that his criminal past brought him media coverage before: In 2003, he was arrested after a string of bank robberies (none in West Seattle) attributed to the “Transaction Bandit.” As was the case in the videotaped Roxbury heist, the robber in those cases waited until the till was open and then changed from customer to robber. Not only that – the “need money” story told by the Roxbury robber echoes the “Transaction Bandit” saga. Charges against Hess were detailed in this 2003 Seattle Times (WSB partner) story, which began:

Gregory Paul Hess hadn’t worked in months, and he had rent to pay and groceries to buy, federal prosecutors say in court documents filed yesterday charging Hess with bank robbery.

The 58-year-old Seattle man had quit his job steaming lattes at a Starbucks in Madison Park before Christmas, and he was sure his unemployment benefits would dry up any day, according to charges filed against Hess in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

According to federal court dockets we reviewed online this morning, Hess struck a plea bargain in 2004, pleading guilty to three of the five counts with which he was charged. He was sentenced to 4 years, 9 months in prison. According to the Bureau of Prisons website, he was released in July 2007. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says he’s due for a bail hearing at 2:30 this afternoon.

3:38 PM UPDATE: Hess’s bail was set this afternoon at $250,000. Prosecutors have until Thursday to file formal charges.

Two reports to share this morning – one, a car break-in that netted the thieves religious items as well as more common loot, so the victim’s hoping you will keep an eye out in case they were discarded; the other, an attempted car theft. Both after the jump:Read More

Thanks to Kim for pointing out this KING 5 story. The robbery at the Shell station at 2805 SW Roxbury happened Saturday morning in King County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction, not Seattle Police, so it wasn’t on our radar till now. The robber looked to be 60ish and apologized profusely to the storekeeper, as you’ll see in the video; if you recognize him, call 911.

SUNDAY EVENING NOTE: We checked this afternoon with KCSO; no word of an arrest so far.