Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes:

ANOTHER CATALYTIC CONVERTER THEFT: Just got another reader report, from D, who says thieves took the catalytic converter from her 2003 Honda Element in an apartment parking lot near Avalon/Genesee. Elements are a hot target right now – you might recall our recent report about this happening to four in two days, including ours. Catalytic-converter theft is a nationwide problem, the Washington Post explained earlier this month, largely because of low supplies of, and high prices for, a metal called rhodium.

ARRESTED AGAIN: Two familiar names are on the King County Jail roster right now. Repeat mail-theft suspect Jason A. Turner was booked this morning for investigation of theft. We haven’t been able to find out details of the arrest yet. This is his seventh jail booking since the first of the year. He was charged last month with four felony counts of stolen-mail possession. … Also on the jail roster since last night – though it appears he’s in the process of getting released – Jerry S. Plute Jr., one of the two men charged in last month’s Westwood Village burglary. The reason for his booking is listed as a failure-to-appear warrant in a domestic-violence assault case. As reported here last week, he and burglary co-defendant Rafael Meyers did not appear for arraignment in the Westwood Village case two weeks ago but the judge decided not to issue warrants.

ADDED 6:02 PM – AFTERNOON ARREST: A texter asked earlier about a sizable police presence near 35th/Morgan. We went over to check – all gone. But we just received some information from SPD: A person under Department of Corrections supervision had allegedly failed a drug test, a violation of supervision rules, so DOC was searching their vehicle. In it, they found “a Grendel 380 handgun and a small quantity of narcotics,” the summary says, so they called in SPD, which seized those items and arrested the suspect.

The photo and report were sent tonight by Tina – a stolen motorcycle to watch for:

I’m an apartment manager in the Alki neighborhood. A recently deceased tenant’s Harley-Davidson Electra Glide (photo attached) was stolen at 6:20 this morning. It was stolen from a parking space next to the alley on the 3000 block of 60th Ave SW.

Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch today;

STOLEN PLATES TRAVEL FAR: From Jay:

I wanted to reach out in case others in WS have had their plates stolen. Sometime this week the license plates were stolen off my Jeep near 35th and Barton. I was notified of this by the Auburn PD this morning when they called stating my vehicle was caught on video during a theft. My vehicle was still parked at home, but my plates had been swapped out to a very similar plate number (my plate started AVD, “new” plate started AAD and are from a stolen car). They even left my license plate frames and swapped over my current registration stickers to help make sure it was hard to notice. The Auburn PD let me know the vehicle used was also the same make, model, and color of my Jeep. The Auburn PD case # is 21-02833 and the SPD incident # is 2021-68789.

This afternoon we heard a conversation on police radio about other stolen plates, so keep close watch on yours – it might be a trend.

CAR-PROWL LOOT TO LOOK FOR: From Dan:

Our car was broken into last night in the Genesee Hill neighborhood (4100 block of 53rd Ave. SW). The only thing of value taken was a backpack full of golf discs, some with some sentimental value. It’s a green Dynamic Discs Paratrooper bag. There were a variety of discs in the bag, but they all have my initials and phone number on them.

No police-report number yet; let us know if you think you have found the bag and/or one or more of the discs, and we will connect you.

PAINTED PEEPHOLES: From Stefan:

We wanted to report that Friday 3/19 night or Saturday 3/20 morning, someone spray-painted over the peepholes on both doors of our 2-unit townhouse.

They also stole a toolbox that was cable locked to the bed of a neighbor’s pickup truck. We assume that they are related.

Our units are on the alley off Fauntleroy adjacent to FairmoUnt Park School. There have been a lot of incidents lately. Our car was broken into 6 weeks ago. Our immediate neighbor has had the catalytic converters stolen twice from his car, and the neighbor who lost the toolbox also had a scooter stolen from the same area. … We’ve owned our unit for 10 years and haven’t had this many issues combined previously. There is typically a lot of foot traffic in the alley since people are walking to Fairmount with kids and dogs.

Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

MAIL THEFT: Helen sent this just before 12:30 pm: “Just reported mail thief to 911. Seen at 25th SW/SW Brandon. Rummaging and stealing mail. Headed south on Delridge — Black man, gray fleece, black bandana as mask.”

CARS VANDALIZED: From Susan:

At least two cars in the 5000 block of California Ave SW were vandalized sometime between 5:30 p.m. on March 18 and 6:30 p.m. on March 19 (likely during the night). The vandals kicked the driver’s-side door of my car and the car behind me, leaving a large dent in each with a shoe print in the middle of the dent. … This has been reported to Seattle PD. Anyone else whose car sustained damage might want to report it. It seems likely that the vandals were just walking down the middle of the street kicking dents in cars. If anyone has any information, please comment. Thanks!

Here are five followups on cases we’ve been tracking via court records:

SOUTH DELRIDGE GUNFIRE: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged 40-year-old Tony R. Britt with first-degree unlawful gun possession. Britt has been in jail since the incident we reported last Saturday, in which a passerby reported seeing a man firing a gun near 16th/Barton. Britt is a convicted felon, with a four-state record including convictions for assault, burglary, drugs, and theft, so it was illegal for him to have the 9mm handgun that police say was holstered in his waistband. Case documents say Britt first told police it wasn’t his, then pointed out that no one was hurt, and finally declared it was his “God-given right” to protect himself. They couldn’t check on the gun’s ownership because its serial number had been ground/etched off. He’s behind bars at the Regional Justice Center, bail set at $25,000, awaiting arraignment March 31st.

GAS-STATION CAR-THEFT SUSPECT: The 42-year-old arrested in an attempted car theft at the Delridge Arco on Tuesday isn’t charged yet in that case but he is charged in Kitsap County with second-degree assault, so we’re publishing his name: Jaycee C. Thompson. Details of that case aren’t available online except that the warrant for his arrest set bail at $100,000 when it was issued last month, putting him on the Kitsap sheriff’s “most wanted list.”

SWAT STANDOFF SUSPECT: Last Friday, we reported on an arrest following a SWAT standoff at Camp Second Chance. This suspect too turned out to have a warrant from another jurisdiction; 38-year-old Ricco Graves is not yet charged in the West Seattle incident but has been transferred to the federal detention center in SeaTac because of a federal warrant.

WESTWOOD VILLAGE BURGLARY SUSPECTS: Almost 3 weeks ago, we reported on the filing of charges against Rafael Meyers and Jerry Plute Jr., both 34, arrested after a break-in that left three business spaces damaged at Westwood Village last month. Both, you’ll recall, were released the next day. Records show neither appeared for their arraignment on March 10th, but King County Superior Court Judge Melinda Young declined to issue bench warrants, citing a state Supreme Court order in response to the pandemic giving judges that discretion. Days later, the court file shows, the court notice sent to Plute’s Top Hat address came back marked “moved, not here any more.” Online records show Meyers has two hearings scheduled next week for three prior felony burglary cases in which he is charged; Plute has no other cases pending.

REPEAT MAIL-THEFT SUSPECT: 37-year-old Jason A. Turner is back in jail for the second time since his release 16 days after he was charged with felony mail-theft. He is the man police have arrested multiple times on suspicion of mail theft, usually in the North Delridge area, a. This time, he was arrested elsewhere, accused of shoplifting $224 worth of merchandise from the SODO Home Depot; he had been ordered in January to stay out of all of the chain’s stores for three years. The KCPAO tells us they requested Wednesday that he be held on $5,000 bail; District Court Judge Fa’amomoi Masaniai set bail at half that. This arrest came four days after Turner spent a day in the South King County SCORE municipal jail for a theft warrant. He is due back in court this afternoon. (ADDED SATURDAY: He was released Friday night.)

Two incidents in West Seattle Crime Watch so far today;

CARJACKING: Details are few on this incident reported after 11:30 pm last night. A man told police he drove to the Arco station in the 7300 block of Delridge Way to meet a woman he knew. She was there along with a man the victim did not know. The man attacked the victim by pepper-spraying him in the eyes, and then took off, with the woman, in the victim’s 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. (So far no further description of the vehicle or thieves.)

HIT-RUN: Kylei is looking for witnesses to the hit-run in High Point that left this damage behind:

I wanted to report a hit and run in hopes one of our neighbors may have seen something. On Tuesday, March 16th my husband’s parked blue Ford Mustang was hit and run sometime between 12-12:30. The driver’s side was hit and the car was moved almost completely onto the curb. Our Ring camera didn’t pick up the event but you can clearly see the car was moved significantly between that time period. The car was parked on the corner of Holly and 34th. This is a busy area for people walking dogs; it’s hard to believe someone didn’t see it happen. Any information or tips are appreciated!

Two incidents in West Seattle Crime Watch:

THWARTED THEFT #1: This happened after 10 pm last night at the Arco station at Delridge/Orchard. According to the preliminary SPD summary report, a man tried to steal a vehicle, but the victim was able to recover it “before the (thief) could drive it completely away from the scene.” The preliminary report adds, “During the incident, a handgun was discharged,” but doesn’t say whose gun or how (we have a followup question out on that). Police arrested a 42-year-old man and note that he “was found to have an outstanding $100,000 warrant for second-degree assault” (the jail roster shows the warrant is from Kitsap County).

ADDED 3:40 PM: We’ve obtained the detailed narrative. Police say the victim, who had a valid concealed-pistol license, fired a shot “into the ground” while trying to remove the suspect out of his car – but the bullet might have hit the suspect, who later complained of foot pain and was taken to the hospital to be treated for a suspected gunshot wound to the foot.

THWARTED THEFT #2: This happened around 7:30 pm Monday. According to the police-report narrative, a driver told police that a man she knew had tried to carjack her in the alley of an apartment complex in the 2500 block of SW Trenton. Though the would-be carjacker had a gun, according to the victim, she managed to hide the keys, and get out of the car; when someone shouted that police were coming, the suspect and a female companion ran to a vehicle described in the report as a “gold 4-door Volkswagen” and fled. No arrest reported.

J reports via email that this happened last night:

Car was broken into in the parking lot behind Starbucks at Fauntleroy and California between 5 pm and 7 pm. Smashed window and took backpack.

A black North Face backpack, to be specific, if you happen to see it dumped anywhere.

Two incidents in West Seattle Crime Watch:

BUS-STOP ROBBERY: Just after 9 pm last night, someone was beaten and robbed by a person who followed them off a Metro Route 21 bus around 35th/Juneau. The initial police report says the robber “first approached” the victim on the bus; “a brief conversation ensued, and the victim got off the bus. The (robber) followed … then attacked the victim by punching them several times in the face, body and legs. Victim’s phone was destroyed during the attack, and the (robber) forcibly took the victim’s iPad Pro and ran off.” The victim was checked out by SFD for what the report described as minor injuries. No arrest, and the report does not include a description.

One reader report today:

GARAGE BURGLARY: After an early-morning garage break-in, Hans got some of the stolen items back, but a Santa Cruz mountain bike is still missing (photo and bike details here). His report:

Someone broke into our detached garage near the West Seattle water tower this morning at 5:51:20, and left at 5:56:20. Upon arrival they inspected car windows, then broke into garage – we immediately heard the garage, called the police at 5:52.

The burglars remained in the garage for 5 min, while the police triaged the situation. They biked away down Manning on the stolen bikes with bags of goods (see the list below). Police were able to intercept both of them around 37th and Manning, where they dumped goods and scattered. One ditched a bike (presumably because of flat tires) and went on foot through the Belvedere neighborhood, the other headed for the pedestrian bridge. They left behind several items, including a bike they came with, and items from other house(s) they had broken into. They emptied a hockey bag, (importantly: violating the most sacred of unwritten rules by coming in close contact with a hockey jockstrap/athletic supporter). Police did not fingerprint, but made a report.

Stolen items: Monitor, 2 bikes, Power Tools, hockey bag (with 1 single hockey skate, hockey shin pads, bluetooth speakers) and a couple of jerseys.

Police recovered 1 bike, monitor and tools, hockey gear, but mountain bike is still missing.

There was a Nest camera turned on on the garage (video); both suspects appear to be in t-shirt + sweatshirt combo, beanie hats.

Police report # is 20-062504.

In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:

SOUTH DELRIDGE GUNFIRE: We just got some police info on this late-afternoon incident. It started with 911 calls about possible gunfire around 4:40 pm (the police report mentions 16th/Barton; we heard scanner mentions at the time of 18th/Cambridge/Roxbury). One person told police they saw the shooter, and provided information that helped police find and arrest a suspect. They also found in the suspect’s possession, according to the initial summary, “a firearm (with an obliterated serial number) … as well as a magazine and shell casings).” The report adds, “Two spent shell casings were recovered at the scene as well. We did not locate a victim. The suspect was booked into KCJ as he is a convicted felon.”

One reader report:

ONE CAR PROWLED THREE TIMES: From Derek:

We live on 38th Ave SW, between Edmunds and Hudson. Since last August, we’ve had at least 3 attempted break-ins on our car, a 1999 Audi A4. Break-ins are by a common method for these vehicles; the perp pries a portion of the door handle off and attempts break/force the door to unlock. In the least it results in a broken door handle, dented and gouged door, broken lock cylinder, and a hefty repair bill. Worst case it leads to a stolen car. Attached picture shows the damage.

First attempt was in August, second early December, and third last night. In August we only figured it out after the damage was noted, in December through lucky timing I caught the person in action and was able to follow them until they got in their car and drove off. The third time was last night when we heard the car alarm go off at 9:30 or so. By the time we got outside the perp was gone.

In December when I saw the perp, they drove away in a silver 1995-2001 model year A4. I tried getting a picture of the license plate but came away with a low-light video but was able to remember the first letters of the license plate as BR. Third letter may have been B. Low light gave a pretty bad video but after putting freeze frame of the video through a couple of filters the last two numbers appeared to be 74.

P.S. The third Tuesday of the month is usually the monthly West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting a chance to hear from, and ask questions of, local police – no announcement yet but we will publish it if and when we get it.

Two threat cases in West Seattle Crime Watch:

WESTWOOD VILLAGE THREAT: An incident last night involved a death threat, police say. Their initial report outlines the incident as follows: Just after 8 pm, one man approached another who appeared to be car-prowling in the parking lot near Rite Aid, following him into Ross and confronting him there. That led to the suspected car-prowler hitting the other man; a fight ensued, and police say, “the victim wrestled with the suspect until the suspect gave up. They went their separate ways. The victim encountered the suspect near MOD Pizza in the Westwood Village parking lot again. The victim said that the suspect punched him again and they started to wrestle. The suspect pulled out a firearm from his pocket and pointed it at the victim’s head. The suspect asked him if he wanted to ‘live or die.’ The suspect left the area.” No description in the report.

HARASSMENT SUSPECT CHARGED: Last week we reported on an incident on 53rd SW in which a suspect was subsequently arrested on Beach Drive. The suspect, 49-year-old Nathan R. Calvin, is now charged with one count of felony harassment. Charging documents say 911 was called on the afternoon of March 2nd about a man “walking through various residential back yards.” In one of those yards, a woman found him “carrying a green metal fence post” and lifting up a boat cover. She told him to stop and leave; he “became angry and started yelling at her and calling her names (and then) took the metal fence post and began swinging it like a baseball bat and told (the victim) that he was going to kill her.” She went back into her house and called 911. Officers found him down the hill. Calvin remains in jail, bail set at $5,000. Charging documents say he has a felony theft conviction and misdemeanor assault and harassment convictions, along with 21 warrants in 10 years, some from outside King County.

9:52 PM: Thanks for the texted tips. Police are searching for a suspect in Upper Morgan. We’re still trying to confirm exactly how this started – it broke out while we were out on the Shorewood crash. The suspect is described in part as male, 5’11”, short dark hair, a face mask, gray sweatshirt and sweat pants, “missing at least one shoe” according to archived radio traffic. K-9 is part of the search. We’ve been to the scene once but a sergeant had just arrived and hadn’t been briefed yet, so we’re going back for an update.

10:06 PM: The search is over; the suspect is in custody. Police tell us it was a domestic violence and burglary incident – he was wanted for breaking into his ex-partner’s residence and stealing some items.

Another stolen-vehicle report today, this time from Trish:

My silver ’94 Subaru Legacy was stolen from the street right in front of my house yesterday (while I was home working!) between the hours of 6 am and 3:30 pm (when I noticed it was gone).

The plate is #BON4428 and it was stolen from 15th Ave SW in-between SW Barton St and SW Henderson St. There is an Electrician Union sticker in the bottom right corner of the rear window.

Police report number: 21-052873. Call 911 if you see it.

Two police reports and three reader reports tonight in West Seattle Crime Watch:

ATTEMPTED BURGLARY: The first-draft police-report summary says this happened just after 6 pm in the 6400 block of 29th SW. The victim said two people had kicked in his door but fled when he confronted him. Officers found and detained two teenage boys. The investigation, says the report, revealed that “it appeared that they had been casing the residence, attempted the doorknob earlier in the day, and at the time of this call worked up the courage to try to force entry. They did not make entry and/or steal anything,” nor was the door damaged. The Youth Services Center declined to book them, police say, so they were released to their families.

HARASSMENT ARREST: Details on this are few but the report says it happened just before 1 pm: “Officers responded to multiple calls of a male in possible crisis near 4500 block of 53rd Ave SW. Officers responded and developed probable cause to arrest the suspect for felony harassment. The suspect was located in the 4800 block of Beach Drive on private property. After a short foot pursuit, the suspect was taken into custody without incident and booked into jail.”

Also tonight: three reader reports about car prowls:

GATEWOOD BREAK-IN: Nic says it happened in a matter of minutes:

My husband’s windows on his truck were smashed at about 8 AM on Ida street between 35th and 37th. He had brought out his work backpack and items for our kids’ preschool before putting the kids in the car. He locked the door after he put the backpack in before he went to get the kids and when he came back out, the windows were smashed and his backpack was taken that had his wallet in it. The thieves already went to Fred Meyer and tried to buy $400 worth of items.

NORTH ADMIRAL BREAK-IN: From JW:

A couple nights ago we had 2 pairs of cross-country skis with 3-pin bindings & a pair of men’s black leather ski boots stolen from inside the car along with the vehicle registration, in the North Admiral area.

FAUNTLEROY CAR PROWLS: From John:

My neighbors and I noticed on our video cameras that this car went by at 2:45 Sunday morning; one person got out and was looking through cars.

They managed to break into one car using a key fob device.

(WSB photo, February 17)

The two men arrested after a multiple-business break-in at Westwood Village almost two weeks ago are now charged. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed second-degree burglary charges against Rafael S. Meyers and Jerry S. Plute Jr., both 34 years old. Both have been out of custody since the day after their arrests; as we reported that night, a judge declined prosecutors’ request to set bail.

Charging documents say both have substantial criminal records – three felony theft convictions for Meyers and “seven pending cases, all reflective of similar behavior, including three pending Burglary 2 charges.” We covered one of those cases last May, in which Meyers was charged with burglarizing Peel & Press in Morgan Junction. Plute has no felony convictions but court documents list eight criminal misdemeanors including vehicle prowling, possession of stolen property, and drug possession. The charging documents for the Westwood Village break-in detail what we’ve previously reported – the two are alleged to have broken into the empty ex-Fresh Vitamins space, then smashed through walls to get into Wyatt’s Jewelers (WSB sponsor) and Sport Clips. An alarm was triggered, and police got there in time to arrest Meyers quickly; Plute was found on the roof a few hours later, with SWAT on hand because a handgun had been stolen from one of the businesses so police believed he might be armed. The charging documents say that after the arrests, police found the handgun in the vacant store space along with items taken from Wyatt’s, plus handgun and shotgun ammunition and burglary tools. The two are due in court for arraignment March 10th.