Three notes in Crime Watch tonight:

BURGLARY ARREST: A brief police summary notes a burglary Tuesday evening at the Park West Nursing Center in the 1700 block of California SW. The summary says that, “Upon arrival, officers found a window to a basement door smashed. A check inside located a suspect hiding in a cabinet.” He was arrested and booked into jail; a judge did not set bail, so tonight, after less than 24 hours, he was released. The 44-year-old suspect does not appear to have a felony record; he is awaiting trial on one misdemeanor charge from October in which he was arrested for swinging a four-foot stick at people near Pike Place Market.

BURGLARY CHARGES: We reported this case last night on partner site White Center Now – a man charged in three recent business burglaries in White Center and one in Burien. The suspect, 34-year-old Nicholas E. Pierce, will be arraigned next week. He remains jailed in lieu of $25,000 bail, half of what the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office had asked for.

BUSINESS-INCIDENTS SUSPECT FOLLOWUP: Last week we reported on the case of 44-year-old Joseph Milojevich, charged with robbery for a shoplift-turned-violent at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) and with harassment for threatening the owner of The Beer Junction. We also reported how he was out on earlier cases because of competency-related issues. Today his case was back in court for a defense motion to get him a mental evaluation. The court documents say he has been awaiting inpatient treatment for an attempt at competency restoration for an earlier case, and that’s why they want him evaluated again. A judge granted the request. Milojevich remains in jail, bail set at $76,000. We obtained the photo at right from the state Corrections Department, but note that it’s from 2003 – the newest one they have.

Four incidents in West Seattle Crime Watch – first, two reader reports:

MACED BY CAR PROWLER: From Chris:

On Tuesday around 3 pm, I was moving out of an apartment located at 6317 42nd Avenue SW. I was there about 30 minutes and decided to take the last of my recycling out when I noticed someone rummaging through my car. I was parked off the alleyway in a designated spot. Upon seeing that the man had a bag of my belongings I confronted him immediately and aggressively. Before I knew it I was being sprayed with bear mace and experienced two days of pretty significant pain.

While it felt great to reclaim my items (about $1200 worth) and tackle the individual (prior to him getting away) in retrospect it was definitely not worth the potential risk. I am very happy and fortunate that the encounter did not lead to more significant injuries. I am sharing with the hope that my experience might help someone out there.

Lastly, thank you to the person driving by that called 911, the neighbor that provided me with water to wash my face off, SPD, and the fire department for keeping me calm. I felt especially bad for the man that called 911 as it was confusing and tough to decipher what was going on.

Chris describes the attaker as a white man in his early 20s, short light brown hair, blue eyes, blond beard stubble, slight build, gray zip-up hoodie and well-worn baggy light-blue jeans.

ANOTHER CAR PROWL: Christy e-mailed this afternoon to report: “I wanted to let folks know there is a car prowler down on Beach Drive. I live (in the 3800 block of) Beach Dr SW and my boyfriend’s window was broken last night. There were pry marks on his door. Thankfully they didn’t finish the job and steal anything. I have lived here 4 years and never had any issues. I did not see any other vehicle damaged, so hopefully they got scared off.”

The next two reports are from over the weekend, both burglaries reported at shipping-business yards on West Marginal – our summaries are from the police-report narratives:

5600 BLOCK OF WEST MARGINAL: Just after 11 pm Saturday, police got a call from a security guard reporting that two men were seen heading toward a shipping business’s fence, possibly associated with a vehicle seen nearby. After officers arrived, they were told that the two had cut through barbed wire/chain-link fencing and broken in. The guard told police he saw them headed for a maintenance building that had recently been burglarized. More officers arrived and searched the yard. They found and arrested one suspect, a 54-year-old man who is still in jail today; the jail roster shows this is his fourth booking this year. Police think the burglars’ intent was to steal “large spools of copper wire.”

7200 BLOCK WEST MARGINAL: At 6 am Saturday, officers were dispatched for a burglary report, also involving forced entry to a shipping business’s yard via its fence. The employee who called them had security video of one intruder, and reported finding damage to the fence and to shipping containers, which had their locks cut off. Nothing seemed to be missing, but the burglar apparently left his backpack behind – the employee found it and turned it over to police. It was described as “filled with various tools and glass/plastic pipes.” (No indication in the report if the intruder resembled the person who was arrested in the other case hours later.)

Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

STOLEN HARDTOP: From John:

The white hardtop was stolen from my Mazda Miata convertible early (Friday) morning while I slept. The car was locked and parked alongside my house in Highland Park. Thief broke a window to enter car. They were cut and bled all over the seats and trunk of car. Police report has been filed.

PACKAGE THEFT: From RC:

Want to share this with neighbors living across from South Seattle College. We had an Amazon envelope stolen off our porch today (12/4/2021) at approximately 2:35 pm by a woman with hair dyed burgundy. Feel free to share images/video with readers to help ID. The property is located along 16th Ave SW.

Two reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

ANOTHER BROKEN WINDOW: For the second time in a week and a half, Floors Plus Northwest in south Morgan Junction has been hit by a window-breaking vandal. From proprietors Luis and Liliana Morales:

We had another window broken in less than two weeks. Our cameras couldn’t get the face of the person doing this.

We received a call from the Seattle Police department at 3:59 am. … The place where we ordered the 1st window dropped the ball and hasn’t even placed the order for the 1st one. We are now looking to replace two as soon as possible.

They believe the person shown in their security images might have been in their store earlier in the day. That information and more images have been provided to police. (added Friday evening) They have boarded up both windows but want everyone to know their shop IS open, regular hours.

STOLEN DECORATIONS: From Tyler southwest of The Junction:

The two front lawn decorations in the picture were stolen last night. About-3-foot tall Darth Vader and Stormtooper. Happened after 11 pm @ 48th and Hudson. They unplugged each, pulled up stakes and took off. Who does this? So disappointing.

Earlier this week, we reported on the second arrest in a month of a man suspected in incidents at local businesses, most recently a shoplift-turned-robbery at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor). Today, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed felony charges against him in that incident and one earlier this month at a store in the West Seattle Junction. The suspect is 44-year-old Joseph W. Milojevich. He is charged with second-degree robbery for this week’s incident at the grocery store, in which he is accused of trying to leave with an alcoholic beverage without paying for it, threatening store staff who tried to stop him, brandishing a chain. The KCPAO also filed a charge of felony harassment for an early November incident (covered here) in which he was asked to leave The Beer Junction and then, prosecutors say, threatened to kill the store’s owner. Charging documents in the cases also note that he was charged earlier this year with third-degree assault for attacking a nurse at a hospital in Burien in April while there voluntarily seeking emergency care. A judge released Milojevich a day after he was jailed in that case, despite prosecutors arguing to keep him in. He has prior convictions from more than a decade ago, second-degree robbery in 2007 and felony hit-run in 2002. His bail in the new cases is set at $75,000.

Three weeks ago, we reported on an arrest following a police standoff at the Cal-Mor Circle apartment building in Morgan Junction. The 44-year-old suspect was accused of two incidents at Junction businesses, first threatening bank staff unless they gave him money (which they didn’t), then threatening to kill a store employee who asked him to put on a mask. His case ended up referred to Seattle Mental Health Court, where it was dismissed because he was incompetent to stand trial. The judge ruled that the suspect was unlikely to have competency restored in the time allowed by state law for a non-felony charge. He got out of jail after 11 days.

We’re mentioning this tonight because the same man was arrested again early today, same place, again after police obtained a warrant, this time serving it with SWAT help. The suspect is accused of going into nearby West Seattle Thriftway late last night and getting into a confrontation with staff who had previously barred him from the stsore, eventually trying to steal an item and brandishing a two-foot chain when they tried to stop him. (That turned the incident into robbery.) With the help of security video, police identified the suspect and went to his apartment to arrest him, which they did just after midnight. This afternoon a judge found probable cause to hold him for investigation of second-degree robbery. But the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office tells us that’s also what happened in September, when he was arrested for a similar shoplift-turned-robbery at the gas-station mini-mart south of Thriftway, In that case, probable cause also was found for holding him on suspicion of second-degree robbery – but the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office never got followup documents from SPD, so they were unable to charge him. Days later, Municipal Court charges were dismissed in Mental Health Court for the same reason as the case earlier this month – competency and inability to hold him long enough for restoration to be likely.

In this case, he’s due back in court tomorrow for a bail hearing.

The photo and report are from Simon:

Woke up this morning to see the beautiful portrait of Angela Davis done by Desmond Hansen [at 30th/Barton] papered over with Patriot Front-branded “Better Dead than Red” poster. Talked with our neighbor who commissioned the piece and he is going to make a police report. We are notifying Desmond as well.

We checked back with Simon, who reports, “It’s been cleaned off. Thankfully the poster was still wet and my neighbor was able to remove it with soapy water without damaging the art.”

If this looks familiar, it’s the same thing, attributed to the same group, that appeared on flyers placed in plastic bags with small rocks and strewn in West Seattle neighborhoods almost three years ago, sparking an SPD investigation. The Anti-Defamation League‘s annual report on white-supremacist propaganda nationwide says this group is by far the most prolific.

Two reader reports:

STOLEN PICKUP: The report and photo are from Terese:

Neighbors, we need your help! Our truck was stolen from outside our house near Alaska Junction on or around Sunday 11/21/21. It is a 2001 dark blue Chevy Silverado 1500 4×4 with extended cab, has decals on rear window of US flag and WSU/Coug. LICENSE PLATE # B68902G. It is (or was!) in great condition – brand new trailer hitch, tires…

If you spot it please call 911.

Side note: before dawn a week or two ago, a neighbor witnessed two men in a tan sedan who parked in front of our house and broke into the same truck (both times locked, with no damage and no idea how they broke in), and pilfered the contents. (All they took was a red bag of wrenches). Not sure if the two incidents are related.

Thank you for any help! I’ve heard great stories of community helping to identify and retrieve stolen property, so here’s hoping.

Terese 206.890.2277

TENT THEFT: From L:

I’d like to report a stolen Thule roof rack and Roofnest roof top tent.

November 23, 2021 – A pickup truck drove by my house at 3:45 AM, and what appears to be the same pickup and a dark van then drove by the house at 4:56 AM. At 5:25, the same pickup backed up and parked next to my car. There were at least 2 individuals but I suspect 3- as it weighs 135 pounds. They quickly removed the tent and put it in the back of the pick up truck. One individual sprinted to what I’m guessing is the dark van. This took less than 3 minutes. They removed the entire Thule rack with the tent attached.

Police Report Number: 21-921995

Multiple break-ins, one person, reports Kelli:

At 5:08 AM on 11/24/21, our car and garage were broken into. A workbench full of tools, an Echo home studio speaker, a Kindle, a leaf blower, and my daughter’s green wagon was stolen. Next the thief went across the street and broke our neighbors’ gate and broke into their car as well.

This happened in the 6300 block of 44th SW in Morgan Junction.

The report and photos are from Tomba, who :

Our condo garage gate was broken into last night 11/23 at 3:00 am. ‘

Our security camera recorded the burglar checking out the gate at midnight, he arrived on a bike, returned at 3:00 am on foot with tools, broke into the gate, then cut the security cable on the Hand Trike and left at 3:15 am, riding the hand trike south on Harbor Ave.

This is a Top End Force Three Hand Trike, black with red lettering, customized for a young man that uses a wheelchair full time. This is not easily replaced. I would think this will be very hard for the burglar to sell.

Maybe someone in our West Seattle neighborhood has seen this burglar or this hand trike.

We’ve requested the report number. (Update: It’s 21-921955.) Meantime, if you find the trike, let us know and we’ll connect you.

Four days after a desperate father crashed into a stolen car to rescue his kidnapped toddler on Highland Park Way, the suspect is charged – and has a history that includes a case reported here earlier this year. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged 35-year-old Samuel M. Robinson with second-degree kidnapping and auto theft. Robinson has an extensive criminal history, including felony charges in three cases this year alone. One was reported here back in August, and its circumstances also were bizarre: Robinson was accused of breaking into a Westwood home, stealing car keys and the residents’ car, then returning to their cul-de-sac the next night – in the stolen car, to prowl other vehicles.

As we reported when Robinson was charged with burglary in that case, the suspect already had been charged with felonies in two other cases earlier in the summer – on July 8th, auto theft for stealing a pickup truck in southeast West Seattle, and on July 28th, second-degree burglary for a break-in at a Kent business a few days earlier. Despite all that, after the Westwood burglary/auto theft, King County Superior Court Judge Melinda Young set bail at half of the $50,000 that prosecutors had requested.

But the case gets more complicated from there. Robinson was found incompetent to stand trial, and was supposed to be admitted to Western State Hospital for 45 days of attempted competency restoration. Apparently there was no room, so in October, Robinson’s lawyer sought a dismissal for a due-process violation. Judge Young denied that motion but agreed to release Robinson on personal recognizance, with conditions including taking prescribed medication, so Robinson got out October 19th. After Robinson failed to show for a hearing November 8th, a warrant was issued. Robinson’s bail is now set at $315,000. The charging documents say the defendant, who has a Westwood address, claims to steal cars because of “projection” in which the cars communicate that they’re intended for Robinson’s use. In this case, Robinson acknowledged becoming quickly aware of the 15-month-old boy in the car but continuing to drive anyway, thinking about possibly taking the child to a relative’s house.

From Lori:

(Saturday in High Point) we found a shoulder bag with some electronics and other items in it sitting by the side of the road on Juneau Street, between 32nd and 33rd Streets. We brought it home and looked through it to see if we could find any name or contact info, but there wasn’t anything like that. Among other items in the bag, there was a PlayStation5. Happy to return it if someone can claim it by describing the bag and other items in it.

If this might be yours, contact us and we’ll connect you.

Two weeks ago, we published two reader reports from Amy – first, that her car had been stolen on Alki, then that hours later, a burglar had broken into her home while she and her daughter were asleep.

Images from the break-in led to a WSB reader tip pointing police to a suspect, but he evaded at least two arrest attempts. Tonight, we have an update from Amy:

Our intruder has been caught!

He had taken his white GMC with his wife to Nevada and was caught in a high-speed chase with police. When they apprehended him, they found my kiddo’s phone, my wallet with most of the cards in it, along with other people’s stolen items. And a gun.

He’s in jail in Nevada … he will be charged in Nevada and then after he serves time he will then be sent up to Seattle to serve time here.

P.S. Still no sign of my stolen car.

Amy says the arrest happened Thursday in Mineral County, Nevada, and she found out via a call from a deputy there. We’ll follow up with their authorities and SPD to see if we can find out more.

In July of last year, we reported on a local doctor charged by federal authorities with fraud for allegedly fraudulently seeking more than $3 million in pandemic-relief loans. Today, the Department of Justice announced that a federal jury found Dr. Eric Shibley guilty. From the announcement:

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Eric R. Shibley, 42, of Seattle, submitted several fraudulent PPP and EIDL loan applications to federally insured financial institutions, other Small Business Administration (SBA)-approved lenders, and the SBA, in the names of businesses with no actual operations or by otherwise misrepresenting the business’s eligibility. In the applications, Shibley falsified the number of employees and payroll expenses and concealed his own criminal history. To support the fraudulent applications, Shibley submitted fake tax documents and the names of purported employees who did not, in fact, work for the businesses for which Shibley claimed they worked. Shibley received over $2.8 million in COVID-19 relief funds as a result of the fraud.

Shibley was convicted of multiple counts of wire fraud, multiple counts of bank fraud, and money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 22, 2022, and faces 20 years for each count of wire fraud, 30 years for each count of bank fraud, and 10 years for money laundering. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

According to the online inmate roster, Shibley is in custody at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac. The announcement says the feds have “prosecuted over 150 defendants in more than 95 criminal cases and has seized over $75 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds, as well as numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with such proceeds.” They accept tips online here.

Two incidents in West Seattle Crime Watch today:

HOME-INVASION ROBBERY: According to a brief SPD summary, officers were called to a residence in the 7900 block of 8th SW last night around 10:10 pm. A home-invasion robbery was reported there, with two armed men coming in and robbing a couple of money and jewelry.. The robbers then fled and got into a vehicle. No one was hurt. No description information in the summary; we have requested the detailed report narrative and will add anything more we find out.

BUILDING BURGLARY: The report and security-camera image were sent by Rick:

We have had some recent security issues in our building. We are on Harbor Ave SW right by the water taxi. Recently someone tried to break into our main entry door, damaging the lock and rendering it unusable. Over this past weekend this man pictured broke into our building, broke into a secured room, and stole keys.

Prior to this, an outside camera was stolen by the main entrance. It’s obvious these are professionals and our building is being targeted for theft and who knows what else. The police are being contacted, and yes, I realize we can’t expect much from them right now, and we are replacing locks and codes and stepping up security. Neighbors on Harbor Ave and in the area at large, be on the lookout for this individual. He carries a duffel bag which likely has tools for picking locks, which is how he gained access to a secured room to steal keys. Incident occurred early Sunday morning 11/14.

We’ll add the case number when/if we get it.

Earlier this week, we reported on the arrest of a man accused of molesting and exposing himself to two children in West Seattle on Sunday. He was accused of approaching the elementary-age victims at 8th/Roxbury as they walked home from a park, This afternoon, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged 39-year-old Anthony M. Bell with two felonies – indecent exposure and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. Bell was already a registered sex offender because he was convicted of third-degree rape in a domestic-violence case in 2008. The photo at right is from the sex-offender registry. Bell has other previous convictions including indecent exposure and assault. Prosecutors asked the judge to keep Bell’s bail set at $250,000 and the judge agreed; he remains in jail tonight and will be arraigned later this month.

A 39-year-old Boulevard Park man is jailed tonight, bail set at $250,000, after being arrested for suspected child molesting and indecent exposure. Court documents say the man was arrested Sunday evening, about two hours after the two elementary-school-age victims told their parent about the incident. A Seattle Police investigator wrote in probable-cause documents that the children were at 8th SW and SW Roxbury, walking home from an unspecified nearby park/playground, when a man approached them and asked for “a hug.” They said no but he touched them both and then exposed himself. At that point, the report says, a person yelled from a car that was stopped at the intersection, telling the man to stop, and the children ran away. Both that witness and the children’s parent reported the incident to police, and the description led to the suspect’s arrest near 16th/Roxbury. The suspect, who is not yet charged, was convicted of indecent exposure almost three years ago following an incident in Top Hat.