Kevin hopes to reunite this bicycle with its owner:

Found bike for a rider approximately 5’6” to 5’10” with the seatpost set for someone approximately 5’8”. Found Christmas Eve in the Gatewood neighborhood near 35th Avenue Southwest. Produce the key and unlock the padlock, describe the make, model and type of handlebars, brakes, and gear shifters and serial number to prove ownership.

If you think it’s yours, email us – westseattleblog@gmail.com – and we’ll connect you.

We’ve obtained the police reports on two West Seattle burglaries from last night:

MYSTERY MADE BREAK-IN: The Junction retail shop at 4312 SW Oregon was burglarized overnight – second time Mystery Made has been hit in less than two years (the previous break-in in April 2020 was in their old Admiral location). Police went there at about 12:30 am after word of an audible alarm and found a shop owner already there. The report says “signs of forced entry” included a removed pane of door glass. They showed police their video of two burglars, described in the report as “UM [unknown male], 5’9, in dark clothing with a hood and mask” and “UF [unknown female], 5’7, wearing dark clothing with a hood and mask,” spending only a few minutes inside but filling a box with thousands of dollars in merchandise and leaving, (added) Here’s some video:

HOME BREAK-IN: Less than half an hour after that police response, a 911 call came in about an “in-progress burglary” in the 5700 block of SW Charlestown. The resident said someone had forced their way in through the back door, and then left quickly, likely in a vehicle. The family dog started barking at the intruder and woke everyone up. The resident reported hearing two voices. Police looking for evidence found “wet footprints” and a phone left behind. Nothing appeared taken but a tape measure was removed from a drawer near the door, so police took that to test for fingerprints. A K-9 search didn’t get far, as the officer also surmised the burglars had left in a car. No one saw it, though, so there’s no description of it or the burglars.

With holiday-shopping season almost wrapped up, it’s prime time for car prowling – as two reader reports remind us:

*Misti reports that around 9:30 am in the QFC/Petco garage in The Junction, she startled, and possibly thwarted three men who appeared to be casing the car next to hers, “looking inside while holding a huge tool (that) looked like it could easily shatter a car window.” She had lingered in her car making a phone call and adds, “Guy right next to my window jumped about 5 feet when he saw me, he said hello then they all walked off quickly.”

*Haile reports, “Man seen for several hours today (ongoing) looking in cars and following delivery trucks on Alki in the 59th/60th and 60th/61st alleys on both sides of Admiral.”

Last month, we brought you Amy‘s story – her car was stolen from Alki, and hours later, her home was burglarized. A tip from an anonymous WSB reader helped police identify the suspect; they tried at least twice to arrest him at his North Delridge residence, but he was gone. Then Amy got word two weeks later – as reported here – that the suspect had been arrested in Nevada, trying to elude police.

We’ve since spoken to the Mineral County District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting him there, and have obtained their court documents as well as those detailing a charge filed against him here. The suspect is 28-year-old Jordan J. Edmonds – we obtained the photo at right from the Washington State Department of Corrections, taken when he was in their custody in 2018. In Nevada, deputy district attorney Jaren Stanton told us, Edmonds has agreed to plead guilty at a January 6th hearing to two felony charges – eluding an officer and unlawful gun possession. He will be sentenced about six weeks later, Stanton said. After he serves time in Nevada, Edmonds faces two felony charges here, filed by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in the break-in at Amy’s house – residential burglary and second-degree identity theft. Those documents indicate Edmonds already had been charged in four other cases this year and last year – two residential-burglary cases, two unlawful-gun-possession cases. According to prosecutors, he had gotten out of jail by posting bond in all four cases (court files show $50,000 bail in a West Seattle burglary last summer), and conditions of release included not leaving this state. His criminal history includes four burglary cases – two as an adult, two as a juvenile.

Amy, meantime, says she’s continuing to work through “issues” related to the burglary but is “grateful” to the WSB reader whose tip helped solve the case. We’ll follow up next month to see what happens when Edmonds is sentenced in Nevada.

The information is from police reports we requested today, both from armed robberies on Saturday:

WESTWOOD VILLAGE ROBBERY: Police were called to the center at 11:22 am Saturday after people called 911 about one man pointing a gun at another. The victim told officers he went there for a transaction he had arranged via OfferUp, to sell “a pair of Jordan 1 low-top tennis shoes, size 10.5, for $300,” according to the police report. Two people showed up and looked at the shoes, still in the victim’s car, which the report notes also held “a pair of Jordan 1 high-top sneakers which (the victim) was not selling but valued at approximately $1,500.” The report continues, “The subjects displayed a roll of US dollar bills with a $100 displayed on the outside.” The victim said the money looked fake. Then one person shoved and hit him; the victim fought back, and a bystander jumped in to help. But while they were subduing that person, the other one “collected the pair of high-top sneakers and one of the low-top shoes and ran out of sight” – returning with a “black semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine visible,” telling the victim he’d kill him if he didn’t let go of the other person. So he did, and that person “fled to the front passenger seat of a waiting 2006-2012 light blue Nissan Altima.” One person got some photos of the armed robber and the vehicle; those have been provided to police.

GAS-STATION ROBBERY: This holdup happened at 9:45 pm Saturday night at the gas station at 5445 Delridge Way SW. Police were told a man came into the store, walked to the counter, pointed “a black .45 handgun” at the clerk, and said, “Give me the money.” The clerk complied and was told to drop to the ground behind the counter; the robber then fled on foot, southbound on Delridge.

A break-in at the vacant health-clinic building at 3400 California SW (past Swedish, future Virginia Mason Franciscan) resulted in loss/damage estimated at ~$250,000, according to the police report. We requested the report after noting a “commercial burglary” logged in the area this past Wednesday. The report says police were called to investigate on Wednesday afternoon; the burglary had happened sometime since the building was last checked a week or so earlier, possibly early that morning, when a fire alarm was activated. On Wednesday afternoon, the investigating officer was shown “areas around the building with extensive damage and removal of copper wire and plumbing. The believed method of access was the forced removal of Seattle Fire Department keys from keyboxes attached to exterior walls. Multiple boxes were removed and presumably forced open to remove the keys and gain access to the building. Ceiling panels were torn down and copper plumbing had been cut and removed. Multiple electrical panels had been torn open and wires cut and removed.” Police also noted, “It appeared the burglars were drinking from bottles of Angry Orchard cider while they were inside the clinic,” leaving a bottle behind, so that was taken into evidence to test for fingerprints.

From Vineta:

We’ve had an abandoned bike against our fence for a few weeks now, and thought it might have been stolen.

This is near 47th/Stevens. Recognize it? Contact us and we’ll connect you.

From Eric at Pegasus Book Exchange in The Junction:

I noticed (Saturday) that sports cards I have been keeping at Pegasus Books have been stolen. There are about 400 very valuable Seattle-centered cards; many Griffey, Kemp, Payton, among others like Jordan and Pippen, some hockey cards as well. I have contacted local sports-card stores and pawn shops but if you hear anything, please let me know. I was going to auction them away for charity but they must’ve been stolen sometime Thursday morning from the back room of Pegasus.

Eric has also put the word out to a wide network of sports-memorabilia dealers, but appreciates more eyes/ears – contact info is on the store website.

Two items in West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:

MACE-ATTACK SUSPECT CHARGED: On Monday, we published Chris‘s report of confronting a car prowler who sprayed him with bear mace. A suspect was arrested Monday and charged today – a repeat offender we’ve covered multiple times. 28-year-old Casey Carlstedt is charged with attempted second-degree robbery. The charging documents allege that Carlstedt “has a record of not following court orders and committed this offense while … another felony [was pending] in King County Superior Court,” so the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office asked a judge to set his bail at $50,000, and the request was granted. The documents also note:

The Defendant has an open Possession of Stolen Vehicle in King County Superior Court from October 8, 2021. The Defendant has the following criminal convictions: Violation of Anti- Harassment Order (2020), Harassment (2020), Violation of a No Contact Order (2020, 2016), Theft in the Second Degree (2016), Harassment (2017), Theft in the Third Degree (2017, 2017, 2016, 2016, 2015), Criminal Trespass in the First Degree (2017), Reckless Driving (2017), Malicious Mischief in the Third Degree (2015), Reckless Endangerment (2012), and Negligent Driving in the First Degree (2012).

We last reported on Carlstedt in the 2020 harassment cases, in which he violated an order to stay away from a certain house southwest of The Junction. Our 2020 report noted that we had “reported on him multiple times in 2017, including a prosecutor’s observation that he appeared to be ‘spiraling out of control’.” Those 2017 reports included this case, a bike theft in North Delridge, after which WSB readers helped the victim recover his bicycle and then led police to Carlstedt. This time, the court documents say, mace-attack victim Chris got tips from social media including photos that helped police identify the suspect because they’d arrested him before. They found him near the Junction Rite-Aid on Tuesday. The “open” stolen-vehicle case, by the way, involved police arresting Carlstedt October 8th after finding him sleeping in a Honda Civic three blocks away from the Junction building where it had been stolen. He was released from jail the next day; a charge of stolen-vehicle possession was filed four days after that. Before that, he had been out of jail since April, when last year’s harassment case ended with a plea bargain and a sentence that amounted to the nearly 200 days he’d already been in custody. Those documents also noted that he was expected to go into chemical-dependency treatment right after getting out.

THEFT VICTIM HIT AGAIN: One more Crime Watch note tonight – Margarita, whose food cart was stolen earlier this year, has been hit again:

Unfortunately my truck got broken into. Cracked my passenger window and stole a few hundred dollars worth of items out of the truck. I called the police. 46th and Lander. Do I have bad luck or what?! Please let our West Seattle neighbors know that the thieves are on the prowl!!!

We’re waiting to hear back from her about whether the stolen items are anything distinctive that people can watch for.

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.