From SPD Blotter: A 35-year-old suspect pulled over in Highland Park last night for alleged speeding/reckless driving turned out to be in possession of a pound of methamphetamine, say police, worth about $45,000 on the street. The SPD Blotter report also notes that the suspect had 23 prior felony convictions, and a current arrest warrant. The arrest happened in the 7800 block of 16th SW (map). Here’s the report on SPD’s website; we’re checking for more on the suspect’s background.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes tonight and a reminder.

BANK-ROBBERY FOLLOWUP: First, we followed up on Friday evening’s Washington Federal bank robbery north of The Junction, inquiring with both Seattle Police and the FBI, hoping they would have surveillance images to circulate. So far, none have been made available. Police had only a bare-bones report available; it describes the robber as a white man estimated to be between 40 to 60 years old. The report says the “handgun” shown by the robber might have been plastic, and that he might have fled to a sedan in the alley. We also heard from a reader who says she was in the bank when the robbery happened and offered additional descriptive details: That the robber wore “a plastic, full faced Halloween mask, not a ski mask. He had gloves on … no taller than 5’6”. thin build. walked in stealthily … gruff voice.” If you have any information, call 911.

PHONE ROBBERY: Later Friday night, a 13-year-old girl was robbed of her cell phone while walking near Southwest Athletic Complex, on her way back to the late-night teen program at Southwest Teen Life Center. One of her parents e-mailed us to share details; the victim was holding her cell phone, says the parent, when a group of girls asked her for it – she refused, but one girl pulled her hair and the other one grabbed the phone and they ran off. She wasn’t otherwise hurt, and they did file a report with police, but not until the next day, because at first the victim was embarrassed to tell her parent what had happened, since she had checked out of the program without getting permission. The parent says there’s one more sad part: The phone was her last gift from her other parent before that parent became critically ill, “and now it’s gone.” The message for other teens: “Rules are put there to protect them and they need to follow them … people do horrible things … walk in groups, don’t take out (your) cell phone.”

REMINDER: Tomorrow (Tuesday) night is the monthly West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, and this time instead of a guest presentation, it’s all about recent trends and your concerns. If you have a question or concern for local police, be there – 7 pm, Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster).

6:09 PM: Police are searching for someone who is reported to have robbed the Washington Federal branch at California and Dakota north of The Junction. More to come.

6:17 PM: We talked with a sergeant at the scene, who told us a “masked adult male” (ski mask type of mask) went into the bank around 5:30 pm. He demanded money, and it was “believed he had a weapon”; he escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, a bit of which he dropped in the parking lot. Nobody is hurt. It was close to closing time so the bank is closed for the rest of the day. Police are trying to figure out if the robber had a getaway vehicle waiting nearby. This is the first bank robbery in West Seattle in a long time – we can’t find one in our archives more recent than two years ago, when our area’s other WaFed branch was held up.

(April 8th photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand – Lovett Chambers, foreground, with lawyer Ben Goldsmith)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Five weeks after a King County Superior Court jury found Lovett Chambers guilty of manslaughter in the deadly shooting of Travis Hood in Morgan Junction in January 2012, his sentencing date is set: June 13th.

The judge who presided over his trial, Theresa B. Doyle, will oversee the sentencing as well. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has not yet finalized a sentencing recommendation; the standard range for manslaughter is 78 to 102 months, and five years would be added to that because Chambers used a gun, but the baseline range would be higher if any of the crimes on Chambers’ record from decades ago count in his “offender score.” He was originally charged with first-degree murder, reduced last August to second-degree murder; jurors found him not guilty of that charge, but guilty of first-degree manslaughter.

Meantime, Chambers’ legal team has filed a motion for a new trial based on the racial makeup of the jury pool and jury.

Read More

Three cases in West Seattle Crime Watch – one spotted on the police-report map, two from reader reports – all three ahead:

Read More

Heard a bit of scanner traffic on this – stolen toilet tank? – and thought we’d misheard. However, SPD Blotter’s Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, who gets to see the reports and knows a good story when he sees one, tells the tale this afternoon:

Seattle police are looking for a man who put the bathroom of a West Seattle Subway out of commission Sunday night after stealing the restaurant’s toilet, making off with a key, and flooding the restroom’s sink.

According to Subway employees, the man and his family walked into the Subway restaurant in the 4700 block of 42nd Ave SW and ordered food around 7:45 PM. While employees were preparing the family’s meal, the man went into the Subway’s bathroom and was gone for quite some time — so long, in fact, that his wife knocked on the bathroom door and asked what was taking him so long. The man’s family then left the restaurant without him.

A short time later, the man emerged from the bathroom carrying a large, black plastic garbage bag and quickly left the restaurant.
An employee later walked into the bathroom and found the toilet tank missing. The employee also found the still-running bathroom sink stuffed with paper towels, and discovered the bathroom key had also been liberated from the lavatory.

Subway staff told officers the missing toilet tank was worth $550. Officers also spoke to several witnesses at the scene who provided information identifying a possible number one suspect in the case. Southwest Precinct burglary/theft detectives will handle the investigation.

Close call in the Constellation Park area south of Alki Point this evening after a driver smashed this car up onto the sidewalk and into the railing. Shiy shared photos via the WSB Facebook page, saying the driver spun out and almost hit a stroller, then ran away. Southwest Precinct Lt. Paul Leung confirms it was a hit-and-run, adding that the car turned out to have been stolen, and that police believe there’s a “good possibility that the driver got picked up by another stolen vehicle.” Shiy said the driver appeared to be intoxicated – and shared this photo showing a beer carton in the car:

The 911 log says this happened around quarter till seven.

ADDED 10:30 PM: The photo above this line was shared by Larry – gives additional perspective about where this happened.

We noticed several street robberies on the Seattle Police crime reports map for the past week-plus, so we’ve rounded up the reports on those, and details of an incident listed as a “drive-by.” We also have a reader report about car prowls, and altogether, these add up to the West Seattle Crime Watch report ahead:

Read More

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
How is a candlelight vigil for a murder victim supposed to play out? Denise Jeffries-Berg, the oldest child of Stephen Jeffries, Jr., killed in South Delridge four months ago, acknowledged she wasn’t sure – so the 50-plus people who showed up all helped make it happen.

There were signs with a photo of Mr. Jeffries, shot in the waning moments of New Year’s Eve at a party in the 9200 block of 16th SW, near where family and friends gathered tonight …

There were candles, long before it grew dark …

His family and friends hoped this would light the way toward a resolution of the case so there would be justice for Mr. Jeffries, a father, a friend, a longtime city employee.

They joined for a moment of silence.

The candles burned on:

Nearby, police appeared to be keeping a vigil of their own:

It was announced that another benefit for the reward fund is in the works, June 21st at the White Center Eagles‘ aerie – details to come. If you have any information, the Seattle Police Homicide Tipline is the number to call – which you can even do anonymously – 206-233-5000.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes this morning:

STOLEN CAR: Watch for Brian‘s car, a “light blue 91 Toyota Camry stolen last night from in front of my house on 60th and Admiral.” (map) As noted in the SPD @getyourcarback tweet (which includes the plate #), please call 911 if you see it.

STOLEN GAS? From Jon at 38th/Graham {map):

I want to report what seems to be a case of gas siphoning from my vehicle. This morning at 5:20 am, I came out to my truck to go to work. As I was waiting for it to warm up (it’s an older truck) I noticed the gas gauge dropping down to empty. I had just filled up last week and had only done 73 miles, so it should have been over 3/4 full. When the gauge hit zero, I turned the engine off and checked underneath for a fuel leak – nothing. I looked at the gas cap door and saw that it was bent and easily opened. I don’t have a locking gas cap, so I think someone has been siphoning off gas from my truck.

Jon’s household also has a car but he says it was not touched.

First indecent-exposure case we’ve heard of since January – e-mailed late Saturday night by a reader in North Admiral:

We just filed a police report because my 11-year-old daughter and her 10-year-old friend were bike riding this afternoon at about 4:30 near 44th Ave. SW and Sunset Ave. SW and experienced an incident of lewd conduct. A man who looked to be in his late 20s, dark hair, dark skin tones, was naked in the back seat of a black SUV. He opened the door, exposing himself to the girls. The girls left the scene and were unharmed but we were of course very concerned.

Two reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

First, a street attack/robbery for which we finally have the police report – we heard about it from the victim’s sister early yesterday, but it happened around 2 am Tuesday. The victim works nights at Home Depot and was taking a break out walking northbound on Delridge at Orchard when he was attacked and robbed by three men who told him not to run as they passed him on the street. He started to walk away, and they followed him, so he started to run, and they chased him. One caught up with him and pulled him down to the ground in the crosswalk at Delridge and Orchard; the two others started punching him and kicking him, and reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet. The police report says two witnesses who saw the attack from outside the nearby Tug Inn told the same story. The only descriptive information given by the witnesses and victim was that all three attackers were male and black, the first attacker about 6’3″ and wearing a gray plaid long-sleeved polo shirt, the other two in their teens/early twenties, one wearing a gray hoodie and gray pants, the other with dreadlocks and white shorts. Police arrived within four minutes of the first call, the report says, and called in K-9s to try to track the attackers, but they were unsuccessful. The victim’s sister says her brother is doing better but was hurt pretty badly from being kicked in the head.

Our second report is from the “in case you wondered” files – thanks to Marika for the tip last night that police had converged on West Seattle Coins at California/Oregon.

A window was shattered, but so far as police could determine, it wasn’t a burglary – there was no sign anyone had entered.

During Tuesday night’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting (full report to come), Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Wilske listed Lincoln Park as one of his emphasis priorities for the summer season, particularly because of its ongoing car-prowl problem. The first of two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports includes another example of that:

Michelle reports a car break-in during the West Seattle High School tennis team’s game at the Lincoln Park tennis courts on Monday. She says two backpacks with “several valuable items” were stolen from the trunk of a Honda Accord, and the debit cards in those backpacks were used quickly at stores including Roxbury Safeway. The car break-ins have been reported to police and they are hoping to find clues on store surveillance video. If you find any tossed-aside backpacks, and/or personal paperwork, please report it to police.

Ahead, our second reader report – the case of the unauthorized tree-cutter:
Read More

Another stolen-vehicle report this morning – this time on the west side of The Junction – and this one should be very recognizable. From Adam at Clean Air Lawn Care (WSB sponsor):

We just realized that one of the trucks that we use for our business was stolen overnight. It’s a 2013 White Chevy Silverado 1500, license plate number B08424Y. The kicker is, the truck is logoed with Clean Air Lawn Care all over the sides and back, including our phone number 206-941-4180 and website www.cleanairlawncareseattle.com. If anyone sees this truck, can you please call us or the police immediately.

Auto theft in The Triangle today; Lori hopes you will watch for her SUV:

Our green 2007 Honda CRV, license plate #425XBU, was stolen from the West Seattle Family YMCA around 12:30 pm today, along with my husband Charlie’s wallet and keys. Someone broke into his locker while he was working out, took the keys and wallet, and sped off in the car. A police report has been filed, case # 14-122027, and we appreciate people keeping an eye out for it.