West Seattle Crime Watch: Asleep and armed; missing-art case resolved

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share this afternoon. First, posted by SPD Blotter‘s Jonah Spangenthal-Lee:

A complaint about a sleeping passenger on a shuttle bus Wednesday led police to arrest an armed felon with a stolen handgun.

Officers Michael Sudduth and Todd Wiebke boarded the bus in the 1600 block of Harbor Avenue Southwest around 3:15 PM, approached the slumbering suspect and asked him to leave. The man waved them off and went back to sleep.

Officer Wiebke once again tried to rouse the man, shaking his shoulder, but the man stirred only stirred enough to roll over onto his side, revealing a handgun in his waistband.

Officers quickly arrested the man and took his gun. Although someone had tried to destroy the gun’s serial number, officers were still able to decipher it, leading them to discover the weapon was reported stolen last year in Kent. Police also learned the suspect is a convicted felon, unable to legally possess firearms.

Police booked the man into the King County Jail for unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of stolen property.

The suspect, 28, is still in jail as of this hour; we’re checking to see if he has a bail hearing this afternoon, and will update with any additional information. (4:59 PM UPDATE: His bail is set at $75,000. His last known address, as listed on documents submitted for the hearing, was in White Center; the jail register shows this is his fourth booking in just under a year, following bookings for drug cases, an assault case, and at least one failure-to-appear warrant.)

Second, a followup to the case of the missing art, reported here last week – art that was supposed to be shipped back to local artist Rebecca Woodhouse after a California exhibit instead was labeled with someone else’s name; that person picked it up and did not respond to repeated inquiries, so police considered it theft (yes, state law says that can include misdelivered items).

Rebecca tells us finally heard from a relative of the man who picked up her art – and learned he’s been in jail since a week after the art was picked up on May 16th. This week, the detective on her case retrieved it and got it back to her; one box had been opened, she said, but the artwork was intact and undamaged.

newnative June 16, 2016 (1:57 pm)

That’s odd it took a relative to contact her directly when there was a detective on the case with access of the recipient’s name. I wonder how the name was changed and who will be held responsible for it.

Chemist June 16, 2016 (4:18 pm)

The artist had this to say on her website:

Art Returned!

SPD returned my art to me this morning! It was in the apartment of the man who picked it up from Fed Ex. They found him in jail, in the next county up, in for other things! Art with a story doesn’t have to be narrative art!
- WSB June 16, 2016 (4:31 pm)
  
  That’s a short version of what she told me. The return happened over the course of a few days – first she told me she had heard from the guy’s mom, I said I would wait to publish an update depending on what she found out about the status of the art, and so it went, concluding with the detective bringing her the pieces. While I am not publishing the man’s name as he is not charged with anything in relation to this, I did verify independently that someone by that name is in the Snohomish County Jail.

Craig June 16, 2016 (2:29 pm)

Another way to look at both of these stories is to not make assumptions because there’s always something to learn. Thanks WSB for being so interesting – always.

Chuck June 16, 2016 (3:36 pm)

Question about the gun/bus story: It sounds like these were actual SPD who made the arrest (and great job at that!). Just curious if the ticket enforcement agents (Metro) who board the buses are also authorized to make arrests like this? The few times I’ve been checked, it seemed like the ticket officers had some moxie to them and could actually deal with unruly passengers. Just wondering what their jurisdiction/roles are when it comes to dirtbags like this guy (yeah, just waving off an officer. That’ll make it all go away…)

WSB June 16, 2016 (4:00 pm)

Fare-enforcement officers are not law-enforcement officers:

https://wwrhah.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/questions-and-answers-about-king-county-metro-fare-enforcement/
AMD June 16, 2016 (4:33 pm)

I feel like Fare Enforcement are like club bouncers. They have a lot of moxie, but no legal authority beyond removing people (and in the case of Fare Enforcement writing a ticket).