West Seattle Crime Watch: 4 cases from the inbox

In West Seattle Crime Watch this morning, a few new reports from the inbox – for starters, first catalytic-converter theft we’ve heard about in a while. The victim says it was cut off their 2000 Toyota 4Runner on Avalon Way yesterday in the Luna Park business district “in broad daylight” and is upset that no one apparently called police while it was happening. Next, a car prowl, a burglary, and a bike theft (latter one added at 11:40 am) – read on:

Second case, from SW Austin in Gatewood – this happened Wednesday:

Getting ready to leave for work, I realized that my car had been broken into. They stole the car stereo, GPS, a camera with tons of family photos, my wallet and the garage door opener. As soon as I called to cancel the credit card, the bank told me that the card had already been used at 5:36 in the morning at the Shell station on California Ave. right around the corner from my house. A police report was filed and they visited the Shell to see if they could find any video evidence. I’m assuming that they took the garage door opener to come back later. So I just had a security system installed today which cost a fortune but well worth it. Bottom line…Keep your cars locked up and most certainly do not forget your wallet in the car!

Third, from Christina via Facebook. First, she had posted on our wall yesterday morning to ask if anyone had had a door-to-door visitor regarding …

… a UW research project regarding nutrition in 30-50 year old women? I’m wondering if it’s real or a scam. The lady that came here had a 6 page demographics page to fill out and a UW lanyard, but she said she didn’t have any cards for contact information about… the project. I’m up in the Puget Ridge/Pigeon Point/Delridge area.

Then last night, Christina returned to post this followup:

FYI: someone broke into our house today so I suppose it was someone casing the joint.

(added shortly after original publication) From Matt:

My son’s bike was stolen on Wednesday afternoon around 2:00 PM from the alley behind my house on 37th Ave (at Graham). The theft occurred while we were in the backyard. The thieves were three 12-14 year-olds, one wearing a red hooded sweatshirt. The police responded quickly and the bike was recovered around 30th Ave and High Point Drive. The thieves appear to be residents of that neighborhood.

We’re going through the latest SPD reports available online, too, so look for a Crime Watch update on those later.

Westside June 25, 2010 (10:30 am)

Quoting the victim: “I’m up in the Puget Ridge/Pigeon Point/Delridge area.” Could we get a little more specific, please? That’s a pretty broad area and it’s nice to know exactly where these things are happening (read: whether they have gotten to my block yet).

bridge to somewhere June 25, 2010 (11:54 am)

i’m very sorry Christina. That’s extremely, extremely frustrating. Did you happen to have a house alarm? I have one and I’m wondering whether it matters at all . . .

Pete June 25, 2010 (12:03 pm)

SW Austin….you could have simply reprogrammed your garage door opener…..

onceachef June 25, 2010 (1:11 pm)

Our neighbors near 35th an Trenton also just got broken into…a brick through a window and the house ransacked. This happened Wednesday, June 23rd. Police investigated but I haven’t heard anything since.

JanS June 25, 2010 (1:44 pm)

I’m really sorry this has been happening to you all. Regarding the stuff stolen from the car. It can’t be stressed enough that if it’s anything you value, don’t leavee it in your car…GPS, wallet, whatever. Always take them with you. Don’t give someone an excuse to break in.

Now…hope they catch the Ba$tards who did it !

HolyKow June 25, 2010 (1:50 pm)

Sorry to the catalytic-converter theft person, that really sucks! However, being mad that no one called the cops is a bit narrow in this particular case…unless a person that knew dead bang for sure it was your car and that was not you under the hood, then it was just another person doing some maintenance on the car to the average citizen. They would not know that it was a robbery in progress.

Catlock June 25, 2010 (2:48 pm)

Don’t let catalytic converter theft happen to you! Protect your vehicle for just $99 with The Catlock, catalytic converter anti-theft device, available at http://www.cat-lock.com.

celeste17 June 25, 2010 (3:44 pm)

Why do they still catalytic converters? What is it worth? Can it be used for something else? Don’t understand this one.

marty June 25, 2010 (4:23 pm)

celeste17: Catalytic converters are stolen for their platinum content. Platinum currently sells for about $1550 per oz. The Toyota 4-Runner and Kia Sportage are favorite targets.

Jacob June 25, 2010 (4:36 pm)

Celeste, catalytic converters contain precious metals like Platinum and Palladium. I’ve read they can be resold for $50-150 to scrap metal dealers.

JayDee June 25, 2010 (6:56 pm)

Depending on the car scrap Cats can start at $300 and go as high as $700. Auto Wrecking yards subsidize their business with them, and secure the cut out ones in a shipping container with serious locks.

Chances are the 4Runner was picked due to ground clearance.

Jeffreez June 25, 2010 (9:23 pm)

You know I didnt think too much about it but the night before my car was broken into, a young female came to our door asking for donations to improve food quality in local public schools. She gave us a flyer but it had nothing to do with public school food quality. Woke up the next morning and my car was cleaned out including my wallet. They actually had the audacity to use my Government travel card. Needless to say, there are some pretty heavy hitting federal investigators looking into this now so it should’nt be too long before they share a cell with someone for a very long time! I’ll keep you all posted.

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