WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen Subaru Justy; prowler alert; suspect charged

Two reader reports and a followup:

STOLEN CAR: The car’s owner sent the photo above and reports, “My car was stolen early this morning on Juneau St. It’s a white ’91 Subaru Justy with a white circular Foo Fighters sticker on the trunk. (The windows are tinted now.) The license plate number is 988-YDT.” Call 911 if you see it; the SPD incident number is 17-154153.

PROWLER/INTRUDER: From a resident near Seacrest, who reports this happened on Monday:

I walked my dog right before I was about to leave my house, which is my usual routine. I noticed a strange man lurking around my building so after bringing the dog back inside, instead of going down the elevator and opening my garage door to leave, I sent the elevator down alone and then ran back to the front window. The man placed himself directly in front of the garage door exactly where I would be standing when it opened. He was unaware that I was watching him and I snapped his photo — the time in the photo is 9:12 am. When the door didn’t open the man conversed with a second man who appeared behind him and then they left. The police have the first man’s photo and will be circulating it, but his description is white male, about 6 ft tall, with muscular to stocky build. He was wearing a gray knit cap and black jacket with what we believe to be Marmot on it. He also had a very thick beard that frankly didn’t look real. The other man also had an elaborate beard, but I didn’t get his photo.

BURGLARY SUSPECT CHARGED: The suspect in the Saturday morning incident we covered in North Admiral has been charged with second-degree burglary. 35-year-old Joseph A. Salem was arrested after neighbors reported a prowler between the 2100 blocks of California SW and Ferry SW, and a car he was reported to have been seen in turned out to have been stolen from Pierce County.


(WSB photo, Saturday morning)

The charging papers allege he stole the car from Tacoma residents after breaking into their house and living there while they were out of town. He then “parked the stolen vehicle in West Seattle and appears to have been living out of the vehicle”; on Saturday morning, police say, he was seen trying the doors to two residences and then was found in a garage. They say he told them he was on duty for a security company, and that the car belonged to a friend. The security company confirmed he was an employee but said he was not on duty Saturday morning; the car’s owners told police said they did not know Salem, but that their home had been broken into and someone had taken their car. His bail remains set at $5,000.

1 Reply to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen Subaru Justy; prowler alert; suspect charged"

  • BlairJ May 4, 2017 (12:21 pm)

    Remind me not to hire that security company.

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