West Seattle Crime Watch: Possible serial thief nabbed

Several Crime Watch updates just arrived in the inbox — first, Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen says a lot of great teamwork involving police and alert businesspeople may have solved a series of eyeglasses thefts:

On 11/04/08 at about 1230 hrs, SW Officer Bruce Wind observed an occupied suspicious vehicle at Westwood Village. Officer Wind checked the license plate of the vehicle. About a half hour later, Highline Eye Care Center (Westwood Village) called 911 when the employees recognized a possible suspect who robbed them last April. Highline employees provided Officer Wind with crime bulletins from Bellevue PD regarding a string of eyeglass thefts.

As Officer Wind was speaking with the Highline Eye Care employees, SW Officer Phil Rees on-viewed a complaint of an incident at West Seattle Optical (4500 blk of California SW).

Officer Wind recognized the incident and provided vehicle information to other officers. A Traffic officer spotted the vehicle in the 2600 blk of SW Genesee. Both male and female suspect were arrested. Suspected stolen property was also recovered.

Robbery detectives are following up on the case which may be tied to over 55 eyeglass theft cases in Bellevue and Auburn.

6 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Possible serial thief nabbed"

  • big gulps,eh? well, see ya later. November 5, 2008 (3:38 pm)

    the criminal can now see clearly that this was a bad idea…

  • changingtimes November 5, 2008 (4:37 pm)

    ha ha ha! i know right! who picks eyeglasses as stolen merchandise!

  • P November 5, 2008 (5:07 pm)

    I was just thinking, what a strange thing to steal!

  • WSB November 5, 2008 (5:51 pm)

    Likely the frames – and probably worth a fair amount of resale money, given how much those can cost …

  • Joe the Electrician November 5, 2008 (8:37 pm)

    Jokes aside, SPD deserves a tip of the cap for nabbing these guys. Well done!

  • I'm home November 6, 2008 (10:48 am)

    I’m sure they go to flea markets and resell them.

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