West Seattle Crime Watch: Car stolen from apartment garage; burglary; (stolen?) bicycle & toolbox found…

Five reader reports tonight in West Seattle Crime Watch:

CAR STOLEN FROM APARTMENT GARAGE: Robert hopes you will be on the lookout for his car:

My car was stolen Sunday morning at around 9 am from 4730 California Ave SW. I’ve already filed a police report, etc. I’m hoping to get readers to keep their eyes open. It’s a blue 2012 Mazda3 hatchback. License plate WA – AHJ1794

He says it was taken from inside the garage, and he’s working with management to check for surveillance video.

BURGLARY: From Delaney in Arbor Heights:

We had a break-in last week (Thursday, November 5). Because over $500 worth of goods was stolen and someone illegally entered our property, it was classified by the SPD as a felony burglary. Someone climbed in our bedroom window while we were at work and stole about $2,000 worth of small electronics and jewelry, as well as a backpack to fit it all in and transport back to their den of thieves. Nothing else was broken or damaged.

She adds, “We have a GIANT privacy hedge which I’m sure made it that much easier for them.” (That indeed is the type of thing discouraged by CPTED – Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design – principles – follow the link for tips.)

ANYBODY MISSING THIS BIKE? Melissa spotted this “Magna mountain bike” on Cambridge between 20th and 21st Ave SW:

ANYBODY MISSING THIS TOOL BOX? Jake says his wife found it in a planting strip near their Gatewood home, “presumably dumped judging by the damage. Hoping to reunite it with the rightful owner. Holding on to it for now, I plan to drop it at the local precinct if no response.”

You can reach him at jake.daniel@gmail.com. By the way, we checked with Robert, the teacher who lost many items in a recent car prowl, including a tool tote. This is NOT his. But even more of his stuff has turned up – some of his teaching materials were found by another WSB reader, so he has them back! Wherever you are, please watch out for stuff that might have been dumped by thieves, and let us know so we can get the word out there.

PHONE SCAM ALERT REMINDER: From Carol: “Just wanted to give a heads-up that in the last 2 days, we’ve had 3 phone calls on our land line telling us that we are being sued by the IRS and that we should phone back immediately for help. I know this is a SCAM and just wondered if anyone else in West Seattle is also getting phoned?” This scam can take many forms, as reported here back in February.

CASE UPDATE: The man arrested in connection with Sunday morning’s West Seattle mugging, found in a Fiat stolen in a Saturday night carjacking on Queen Anne, wasn’t booked into jail until this afternoon, after a short hospital stay. So he won’t have a bail hearing until tomorrow.

If you have Crime Watch information to share – once it’s been reported to police! – e-mail us at editor@westseattleblog.com – if it’s breaking news (big police response somewhere RIGHT NOW, etc.), text/voice-call us 24/7 at 206-293-6302 – thank you!

5 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Car stolen from apartment garage; burglary; (stolen?) bicycle & toolbox found..."

  • WS Teacher November 9, 2015 (9:11 pm)

    Our land line received the IRS call this Monday morning at 6:30am. I knew it was a scam and hit the delete button. Thanks for letting me know I wasn’t the only one.

  • bertha November 10, 2015 (6:15 am)

    I got the IRS scam call yesterday at 6:30 a.m. too. Ignored it.

  • WS4life November 10, 2015 (11:55 am)

    Good luck getting your car back! Mine still has not been recovered. I just called SPD 911 to report a possible stolen/abandoned vehicle that has been parked on the street with the drivers side window down for about 5 days now. They then transferred me to the non emergency line & had me on hold for over 15 minutes. I finally just gave up. It’s no wonder why vehicle theft is running rampant in this city. All one has to do is check the WSblog’s crime watch tweets to see an almost unimaginable amount of car thefts.

    • WSB November 10, 2015 (11:58 am)

      Please note, there are two tweets for every incident.

  • sophista-tiki November 10, 2015 (6:15 pm)

    IRS phone scam call. I was working on top of QA today and there were 2 calls right in a row.

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