West Seattle Crime Watch: Stolen/dumped items? Plus, tale of 2 stolen-car suspects

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two notes in West Seattle Crime Watch so far today:

STOLEN TOOLS/JACKETS? From Patty in Morgan Junction: “I believe someone took these from someone and dumped them in our apartment parking lot. It’s a tool belt with tools in it, 2 jackets (one fleece). Our address is 6500 block of California. … A name is on the tape measure but we couldn’t find the person by googling them. Hate to toss them.” Let us know if you’re missing similar items and we’ll send you her way.

SUSPECT RELEASED: Following up on our Sunday report of a 36-year-old car-theft suspect’s arrest along Longfellow Creek – he has not yet been charged and was released from jail after three days. The probable-cause documents in the case (basically, the police-report narrative) described the circumstances leading up to the arrest, information we didn’t have for our original report: A patrol officer became “suspicious” of the car, which at the time was parked, unoccupied, near 25th SW/SW Juneau, called it in, continued along his way, and then got confirmation that it was stolen. When he went back to the area, he noticed someone was in the car and had started it. As his car got closer, the person got out of the car and bolted. The officer ordered the suspect to stop; he “feigned compliance” and then fled. Backup officers were called in to search, and as we reported, the suspect was arrested nearby.

SUSPECT BACK IN JAIL: While checking the jail register, we noticed a familiar name among those booked this week: 39-year-old Joshua Utecht. He is the man arrested and charged in a stolen-car case after an incident in the Beach Drive area, back in April. He is now back in jail with bail set at $35,000 for allegedly failing to appear in connection with that case. Court records say the warrant that resulted in his arrest this week was issued a month ago; we don’t know the circumstances of his arrest on that warrant, nor whether he was in West Seattle, but thought it notable. He had spent a month in jail in connection with the April case before getting out after posting bond.

Michael September 22, 2016 (4:04 pm)

Just wanted to say thanks to WSB for doing these followups. So often we see headlines and never see the results. Thanks for following through on these stories.

WSB September 22, 2016 (4:49 pm)

Thank you for the kind words. It’s not easy to get names in most cases or else we’d have even more followups! – TR

AY September 24, 2016 (12:54 am)

BLACK STRAP with KEYS found in the landscaping at 6970 California Avenue SW. Possibly tossed in the landscaping by someone who stole these keys. There are multiple keys on this black looped-strap.

sam September 25, 2016 (9:02 pm)

WSB does a better job then the cops

WSB September 25, 2016 (9:16 pm)

No comparison – we don’t do anything to “curb” crime but we share reader reports, and report on notable incidents that we find out about, in hopes that more information = stronger community. But it’s only a fraction of what actually happens out there … the cases that result in arrests and the ones that don’t …

Dennis September 29, 2016 (1:13 pm)

Small set of keys turned up last night in the front yard, corner of 8th and Cloverdale. A car key, a house key, and another small key on a metal ring.

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