Former West Seattle soccer coach sought on molesting charges
Our partners at the Seattle Times just broke this story: Police are looking for a man who coached a West Seattle youth-soccer team until last November, now that he has been charged with child molesting and other crimes. 38-year-old Francisco “Javier” Valdivia-Enriquez, who coached Deportivio Moctezuma, is accused of molesting nine teenage boys, according to the Times. He reportedly has not been seen since late November and is believed to be out of the country. More when we get the charging documents. ADDED 12:37 PM: We have received and read the paperwork – read on for a summary:Read More
West Seattle Crime Watch: Car vandals; double theft; phone grab
2 short Crime Watch reports to share tonight – one just in from Anne-Marie, reporting car vandalism not far from the car-egging report published here earlier:
We had vandalism done to our car tonight. 39th and Thistle [map]. I saw two young teens in baseball caps run after kicking the side mirror off the car. Police have been called.
And from Joseph:
My son’s Huffy Mongoose kid’s bike (orange/gold) and silver Razor scooter with red handlebars/trim was stolen today from our carport that faces the alley behind the West Seattle Baptist church, right off California and Genesee [map]. It happened between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm. Wanted folks to know.
ADDED 1:21 AM: One more Crime Watch report – a phone grab at a West Seattle bus stop – read on:Read More
West Seattle Crime Watch: Another egg attack
One week after our last report, here’s another one – Kate got hit:
Just wanted to let you know my car was hit with eggs last night – near the corner of 35th and Elmgrove [map]. Looks like I was the only one, but not sure if anyone else was targeted. It made a huge mess and after washing it all off, you can see where the egg shells exploded and scratched the paint. Fun!
This falls squarely in the corner of the type of incident police want to make sure you report, even if you think it’s “minor” … as “KBear” wrote in the 20-comment discussion that followed last Monday’s report, “Just because petty crime may be commonplace doesn’t mean we should put up with it in our community.” There’ve been some reports of items thrown at moving vehicles, for example, which can startle a driver and cause a crash. The non-emergency number (which would be appropriate unless you come across someone in the act of throwing something) is 206-625-5011.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Art theft; car break-in
If you see that work by John Osgood, “Flowers for You,” anywhere but the exhibition space in Mural Apartments (WSB sponsor), report it to police – because it’s stolen, according to Twilight Artist Collective, which just sent word of the theft. They’ve also written about it on their website. It’s been missing for eight days now, so they decided to get the word out more widely.
Meantime, one other Crime Watch note this afternoon – from Kelly:
Just wanted to let everyone know we had a car break-in (Tuesday) night in Arbor Heights, 42nd and 102nd [map]. Never had a problem in the past 5 years until now. They rooted around in the car for valuables but we don’t own any valuables! Ha! We think it occurred after 11:30 pm.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Now we have a purloined pig
From Dicki at Endolyne Joe’s in Fauntleroy – the photo at left and the plea for help finding that sign:
My partner, Mark Silver, who built Joe’s, made a great Pig holding a sandwich board sign that said Eat at Joe’s. We have been putting it on the corner of 45th and Wildwood. He made this incredible sign for free because he loves Joe’s. One of my Managers forgot to bring it in the other night, and alas he is gone! We love our pig and want him back. Would he go under lost pets? He was like a pet to us.
No, this is more Crime Watch than Lost/Found Pets. If you’ve seen the pig, please contact Dicki, 937 5637.
Safer streets: Councilmember, police @ West Seattle Chamber
Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess came to West Seattle today to promote his package of proposals to fight “street disorder.” He was one of three speakers during the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s monthly lunch meeting – held this time at the Southwest Precinct. Before Burgess’s appearance, the 30-plus people in attendance heard from the precinct’s top two leaders: Its commander, Capt. Joe Kessler, and its operations lieutenant, Lt. Norm James. 
One big theme from Capt. Kessler, who’s about to mark his second anniversary as West Seattle’s top cop, and Lt. James: Report EVERY crime, no matter how small. They recounted cases in which officers recovered stolen property and wanted to return it to its owners – but the thefts had never been reported. (Be sure to have records of your valuable, and etching identifying info helps too.) He also noted a case of thefts from a business that each seemed tiny – and went unreported as a result – but eventually added up to something huge. Capt. Kessler also acknowledged that while there had been complaints in the past about callers getting brushed off when they called 911, leading people to question police advice about “call in ANYTHING suspicious,” the complaint level is down and service level is up.
Also up – police staffing; he discussed the citywide level, which is around 1,350 “and still hiring” – way up from a historic low of 1,000 some years back – and noted that while the SW Precinct has 13% of the city’s call load, it gets 14% of the staffing, because of some quirks caused by the fact the patrol area – West Seattle and South Park – is split into two “sectors” instead of three or more like other precincts. He noted that three members of the SW Precinct team are currently on military deployment overseas.
The “emphasis team for the business community,” two officers who spend most of their time in The Junction and environs, has been on that assignment for some months now, and Capt. Kessler said it’s going well – they often intervene or intercept trouble even before it’s officially reported. He says the third-watch team (which starts around 7 pm) will be increasing visibility for businesses that are open at night, such as restaurants and bars.
One such entrepreneur, Dave Montoure of West 5, commended precinct leadership for the new emphasis patrols and offered the observation that since the two officers had previously worked downtown, they recognized some Junction-area troublemakers as having come from downtown. That led Capt. Kessler to say police “strongly support” the new crackdown proposals by Councilmember Burgess, who picked up from there.
Read More
West Seattle Crime Watch: Junction police response explained
We got a tip around 1:40 this afternoon about a big police response by the US Bank branch in The Junction (42nd/Edmunds). Nothing there when we arrived – but we have since found out from police what was happening: Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James says a man “walked into First Mutual Bank looking like he was going to rob it.” He fled after an alarm was triggered; officers then spotted him by the US Bank branch, and discovered he was “armed with a BB gun,” Lt. James says. The man was detained and turned over to robbery detectives for questioning.
Sea lion shootings: Update on January/February investigations
Last month, we reported the news that federal investigators were looking into the shootings of at least five sea lions, some found in West Seattle (like the one that was being checked out in the photo at left, shared by Will). West Seattle’s Seal Sitters received early word of some of those cases and have been tracking the investigations. Robin Lindsey from Seal Sitters has now posted an update on their site: She reports that authorities say, of 11 sea lions whose deaths they investigated in January and February, from Kingston in the north to Olympia in the south, 10 had been shot. Two were Steller sea lions, officially listed as “threatened”; eight were California sea lions. As Robin writes on the Seal Sitters site, these shootings are considered crimes, and there’s a 24-hour tipline. And if you spot a seal on the beach in West Seattle in any condition, call Seal Sitters at 206-905-SEAL.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Nursery’s pilfered pushcart
Galen at West Seattle Nursery says they accidentally left a cart like that one outside the gate last night – and this morning, it was gone. “We know it’s our fault for leaving it out, but we would really appreciate it if anyone sees it around town and recognizes it to let us know. Or, if whoever took it would kindly bring it back, we would be eternally grateful – absolutely no questions asked.” (The nursery’s at California/Brandon – map – 935-9276 – and even now on Twitter, @wsnursery.)
12-year-old charged, 9 months after West Seattle backpack case
We’d been checking with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to see if they’d ever made a decision on whether charges would be filed in a widely reported case here in West Seattle – a 12-year-old girl accused of hitting a then-12-year-old boy with what some witnesses described as a backpack containing rocks at Southwest Community Center last June. (The incident was first reported here; the boy had to go to the hospital. We published details of the full police report the next day.) Today, the girl was charged with third-degree assault, according to paperwork just sent to us by KCPAO media liaison Dan Donohoe. The girl, who turns 13 till next month, is scheduled for arraignment two weeks from today in Juvenile Court. We are not identifying either her or the victim because of their ages; she is charged as a juvenile, not an adult (though some other media have identified them in the past, as they both gave TV interviews after the incident, so you may see their names elsewhere).
From West Seattle police: Injured officer update; WS crime trends
(Thursday night photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Two updates from Lt. Norm James at the Southwest Precinct – first, one followup on last night’s crash on Delridge barely a block south of the precinct: Lt. James says the officer who was hurt is “doing fine” and got out of the hospital within hours of being taken there. (Investigation results will take a while, since the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad was called out, which is why Delridge was closed for so long.) Second – a new overview on West Seattle crime trends, from the report Lt. James gave to this week’s Precinct Advisory Council meeting:
So far this year we’re seeing crime trends down in virtually every category, some very significantly. Examples would be car prowls December 2009 and February 2010 tied for the lowest in a year and a half; residential burglaries Feb 2010 were the lowest in over a year. It’s very encouraging, and we continually thank the residents of West Seattle for their efforts in assisting us in this.
Explains why things have been a little quieter on the Crime Watch page lately.
From last night’s
| 2 COMMENTS