West Seattle Crime Watch: VW ‘getaway’ camper, & tagged poles

Two items to share in West Seattle Crime Watch: First – remember Sharon, who shared the story two weeks ago about a burglary near Lincoln Park with loot including the family van? Tonight, a followup:

Our VW Eurovan is home, much the worse for the wear. (was stolen from our home at the end of SW Othello St 6-30-10). The Kent Police recovered it 7-13-10. Seems the van was in use for criminal activity. They found an acetylene torch, bolt cutters, tool box, etc in the van. Can you imagine a VW camper as a getaway vehicle!!? We think they were depending on the “nerd factor”. We haven’t recovered any of the other items stolen from the house. Service station video (in Tukwila) of someone using my debit card helped nail the thieves. So looks as if the thieves were not from West Seattle.

And from Keith:

I thought I’d send in a message to let you know that 3 telephone poles in our alley on 47th were tagged the other night. Not sure how many alleys or homes were hit. We are on 47th near Andover/Charlestown.

Two weeks from tonight, it’s Night Out – the neighborhood-building, crime-preventing block-party night – if you let us know – thanks!

8 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: VW 'getaway' camper, & tagged poles"

  • 35this35mph July 20, 2010 (9:14 pm)

    As a fellow VW Camper guy, I’m glad to hear yours is back home. As for getaway cars, I will point you to “Back To The Future” in which the terrorists use a ’70’s era baywindow bus for their terrorizing!

  • vanessa July 20, 2010 (10:17 pm)

    To Keith: you say your telephone poles were tagged. What does that look like? Is this some gang marking of some kind? Maybe if we know what to look for, we can tell the authorities. Thanks.

  • Keith July 21, 2010 (10:15 am)

    The tag was sprayed in silver and was some sort of design/logo/name. I did email some photos to the blog last night. I doubt if it’s gang related but I could be wrong.

    • WSB July 21, 2010 (10:25 am)

      We can’t use the photos since we don’t show tags – sometimes we can blur them when they’re on larger targets, but in this case, blurring them would pretty much just show you a photo of a utility pole. I would, however, advise reporting to police and making the photos available to them. Last time they talked about tagging at a WS Crime Prevention Council meeting, they were keeping a database, AND they very strategically knew what was a gang-type tag and what was not.

  • onceachef July 21, 2010 (10:16 am)

    Reminds me of when my VW bug was stolen in CA…way back when. What the thieves didn’t know was that my gas gauge was broken (stuck on half full) and they ran out of gas on the highway! While they were getting gas, a CHP officer pulled up….long story short…they were caught! But they were also engaged in stealing from other houses (all the stuff was jammed in my car)…the roof cover was ripped to shreds, and the gears were all torn up (someone didn’t know how to shift too well)…but at least I got it back!

  • lg July 21, 2010 (10:40 am)

    another VW camper owner who saw the original post, and confess I looked suspiciously at every white camper I saw. glad it’s home.

  • flowerpetal July 21, 2010 (11:41 am)

    Grafitti on public property, such as the three poles, should be reported here for Seattle Public Utilities:
    http://www2.seattle.gov/util/forms/graffiti/graffitiForm.asp

    Grafitti on private property should be reported to the police non-emergency number, 625-5011.

    And of course, if you witness tagging, you should call 911 post haste!

  • Greg Whittaker July 21, 2010 (11:30 pm)

    more like a hippie mobile.

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