West Seattle Crime Watch: More package thefts

| Crime | Genesee Hill | West Seattle news

From a theft victim who signed this report “West Seattle taxpayer who wants justice”:

Happened at 2:30 (Wednesday), 46th & Genesee, dog barked and possibly chased off the crooks but the packages are gone. UPS showed up at 2:35, FedEx at 2:45, crook stole the packages at around 3. From what I understand the crooks are following the trucks; I recommend that you send packages to your work or have them held at FedEx or UPS.

Even if you are not expecting any deliveries yourself – if you see someone suspicious in the vicinity of a delivery truck (or anywhere else!) don’t hesitate to call 911 – someone’s tip might just catch serial thieves with a trunkload of other people’s holiday presents.

Richard December 22, 2011 (10:31 am)

Good reason to have a law like oklahomas’ “make my day law”…..check it out….

Blunt Speak December 22, 2011 (11:45 am)

@ Richard – Oklahomas’ “make my day law” doesn’t cover outside your home (where packages are usually left by couriers). It has to do with forceful entry with intent to harm occupants. I think leaving “bait” packages containing a week supply of your dog’s or cat’s poo along with a note calling them on how stealing conjures up bad Karma is a good tactic.

Swiss miss December 22, 2011 (11:46 am)

We had a UPS package stolen from our porch on the 21st. after wondering what was taking so long for it to arrive I went to the tracker website and it said that the package had been delivered 6pm on the 21st. That evening my dog was acting strange but I didn’t think anything of it :( shame on you grinches!!! ( I live on 38th a block from bowling alley

G December 22, 2011 (11:53 am)

What utter lowlife, stealing presents.

Christy December 22, 2011 (12:16 pm)

My neighbor on 47th and Genesee also had a package taken off their front porch yesterday. Maybe FedEx and UPS should not place packages on the front porch in plain sight, especially this time of year.

frank December 22, 2011 (12:21 pm)

@Richard – totally. Maybe the survivors could have a hand amputated like they do in Iran?

huindekmi December 22, 2011 (12:59 pm)

Richard, it would seem that you’re advocating the use of deadly force against someone who has taken a package from your porch without threatening anyone. Is that correct?
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To be clear, Oklahoma’s “make my day” law allows the use of deadly force against unlawful felonious attack or entry in your home or place of business. Stealing a package from your porch does not meet either criteria.
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The thief stealing packages from porches should be arrested, charged and jailed. Unless he threatens someone, use of deadly force to stop him from taking a package is totally unwarranted.

NFiorentini December 22, 2011 (1:30 pm)

I like Blunt Speak’s idea. The boxes need to be dressed up to look like legitimate UPS or Fed Ex deliveries (even better: boxes with the Amazon logo prominently displayed!). Perhaps someone could take a box, fill it with used kitty litter, and place a layer of packing peanuts on top. In order to find out what’s in the box, the thief would either dump the contents all over the inside of their vehicle or…better yet…go digging around the inside of the box with their hands.

If a couple of hundred people left such boxes on their porches…GOOD TIMES!

Neighborly December 22, 2011 (1:35 pm)

While I have the luxury of this week off, I’ll be sure and keep my eyes open and be visibly watching while the trucks are on my block. I hope others will do the same when I’m away.

WSB December 22, 2011 (1:57 pm)

We had a package delivered about 20 minutes ago and I forgot to go to the door but have a pretty good visual on the window from here, was half-hoping to spot a would-be package thief … but no. They weren’t following THAT truck, apparently (or else decided the package, relatively small, wouldn’t be worth it) … TR

Swiss miss December 22, 2011 (2:28 pm)

@ Blunt Speak.
Took your advice and they took the bait! Box had diapers and cat poo. Lol! Used an old UPS box and put a fake address on the outside Note inside said ‘here is some sh%t for a bunch of sh%t’s merry Xmas’. I feel alot better :)

T-Rex December 22, 2011 (2:34 pm)

I say we follow the car that is following the Fed Ex and UPS guys and WHOMP on them!

I do enjoy the cat poop idea though!

MissBeth December 22, 2011 (3:01 pm)

Oh to be a fly on the wall when that special package is opened…LOL :)

Ahhhh karma, she’s SUCH a fickle b***h!!!!

bettytheyeti December 22, 2011 (3:13 pm)

@Swiss miss, if you actually did this . . . way to go!!

Swiss miss December 22, 2011 (3:32 pm)

@ bettytheyetti
Yep I really did it! Felt really good about it till about an hour ago.. Now I’m all worried/paranoid that there might be retaliation on my house Eeep! Guess were leaving all lights on tonight..

Amanda December 22, 2011 (3:35 pm)

Awesome Swiss Miss! I suggest we all do this! That might just stop the thefts. At least the ones not following the trucks anyway!

Jim P. December 22, 2011 (3:43 pm)

“use of deadly force to stop him from taking a package is totally unwarranted.”

I’ve never understood why people work so hard to defend the lives of thieves. If they are harmed in the course of their illegal acts, they brought it upon themselves.

Not everything that breaths is worth protecting.

NFiorentini December 22, 2011 (3:47 pm)

The more I think about the potential hilarity, the more excited I get.

I have a decent-sized box emblazoned with the Amazon logo as well as an appropriately-altered UPS label (“SHIP TO: *Insert prank name*”). However, I *don’t* have any pets and I live in an apartment building where a nice neighbor might bring the box inside to the mail boxes area. If anyone has some used kitty litter (or something equally gross…rancid cooking oil perhaps?)and a porch where our box can be easily seen from the street, we could have some Yuletide fun!

EJ December 22, 2011 (3:57 pm)

What was more disturbing was the front door matt turned up side down and backwards, the crooks were also looking for key so they could come back later, beware

Kim December 22, 2011 (4:05 pm)

Swiss Miss, that rocks.

jc December 22, 2011 (4:12 pm)

Swiss miss, nice play! Way to serve ’em justice!

hopey December 22, 2011 (5:04 pm)

I have taken a baby monitor camera and pointed it out my front window, looking straight down my front walk. It has green LED lights on it, and from the sidewalk a person approaching is eye level with the camera. I think it’s kinda hard to miss. I’m hoping this camera will make any would-be thieves think twice about stealing my packages.

WS expat December 22, 2011 (5:06 pm)

@ Richard
@ Jim P.

Easy, cowboys. The MMD statute was intended to allow use of deadly force to protect the people inside a house — or in the case of Oklahoma, inside a business — from injury or death. Do you really want to maim or kill someone who is snagging an L.L. Bean shipment off your porch? Worse yet, what if you miss and nail an innocent passerby?
Much as I love W. Seattle and long to be home for Christmas, the idea of a bunch of city slickers who neither know nor respect what guns can do, arming themselves with handguns and blasting away at every suspicious noise, is enough to put me off my egg nog.
Mejor que haiga un tonto y no dos, folks, and feliz año nuevo.

WS Born & Bred December 22, 2011 (5:29 pm)

Way to go Swiss Miss!

Christopher Boffoli December 22, 2011 (7:12 pm)

Considering some of the tacky gifts my family members have been known to send, I think the package thieves would technically be doing me a favor. I figure it’s one less acrylic, kelly green sweater that I neither have to wear nor stand on line at Jordan Marsh waiting to return. :-)

Swiss miss December 22, 2011 (7:48 pm)

Thanks for all the kudos :) in my head I like to think I’m Rambo… But most of the time I don’t act on these impulses LOL it felt good to do it and I’m glad that I did. My husband is a little sick of my fist pumping ‘I got the bad guys back’ lol Think it was worth it :) and hey.. I got the idea here. So thank you all for being such a great sounding board and community. Happy holidays take care of one another

AIDM December 22, 2011 (10:37 pm)

These A-holes stole our Chrismas cards and a present for my sister. The poop in the box is a great idea, but you could also rig a rat trap so that the poop is flung into the opener’s face :-0

Christy December 23, 2011 (7:24 am)

Can we rig up a can of spray paint to go off in their face when they open the Box? Just saying…

Val December 23, 2011 (11:17 am)

At 3:15 yesterday(12/22) on Andover and 48th my neighbor noticed a vehicle with 3 occupants parked in my alley driveway. The occupants were very uncomfortable that they were being watched by her and her big barking dog. After calling me (I was working from home, alone and had no idea what was going on)to determine that this car and people had no business in my back yard she called the police. The police were driving around our area in less than ten minutes. I doubt they found anything but their presence means something! Big THANK you to my neighbor for keeping an eye out!

Lindsey December 23, 2011 (6:30 pm)

We had outgoing Christmas cards stolen from our mailbox last week. Will be investing in a locked mailbox soon…

kathy December 26, 2011 (5:41 pm)

I like the idea of the ” poo to go ”

Ben December 29, 2011 (2:25 pm)

Mail stolen: Dec 25th betw 3pm and 7pm.
Location: 5400 block of Fauntleroy Way, inside non-secure gate and screen door.

Found: Tuesday, Dec 27th….2 blocks away, 4800 block of Fauntleroy Way.

So I figure I’ll add my story of mail theft, even though it’s late and this doesn’t all seem connected. I moved in to my two-level, 4 unit building a few months back. Mailboxes are inside a gate for the two bottom units and inside the same gate, plus a screen door, for the upper two units.

I was around on Xmas, which is why it’s strange that I didn’t catch this person. There was a small stack of mail in the unit next to mine, since the tenant moved out. I went through it to recycle the ads, and stacked the actual mail (thinking my landlord or the USPS might grab the overflow). I left the stack at the base of the mailbox, so there was room inside the box now. It would have been VERY hard to see from the sidewalk or street. On my own mailbox, I left a letter that was for the previous tenant with a note “Please return to sender” written on it.

I saw this stuff in the AM on Dec 25th. When I returned around 6pm or so the same day, I noticed the letter and stack was gone. I figured MAYBE the USPS was catching up with late box deliveries (and took these), or maybe my landlord did come by and grab the stuff (doesn’t explain why the return-to-sender was gone though). So I didn’t think too much of it, at least it was junk and not packages.

The following Tuesday AM, I’m walking along Fauntleroy Way (heading north) and suddenly in the bushes I see my handwriting looking back at me. It’s the opened envelope I wrote on to be returned via USPS. I then found a picture that was tossed, and then I found another piece of unopened mail from the stack. Clearly, this means someone walked into my apt property, opened a screen door and took mail that was in, on, or near my mailbox.

The worst part is the feeling that someone was willing to walk that far into my life/building to steal some worthless mail. I just hope I get to find this crackhead. I spend my time debating between the merits of a 4 iron versus a good ol’ fashioned baseball bat, when I think about what I’d love to do to this guy’s skull. When somebody is scavaging through mail, looking for a few dollars, committing crimes and doing it in the open (and not covering any of their steps), it’s meth or crack. Crack is wack brother, crack is wack. Don’t let me catch you, or I’ll be going to jail for assaulting a crackhead. And that would suck even worse.

Sorry, comment time is over.