WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen Subaru wagon; mailbox break-ins

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports:

STOLEN CAR: Gabriel sent the photo and this report:

My car was stolen Wednesday night out of the Elliott Tire and Service parking lot while waiting to get work done… The car is a dark blue 98 Subaru Legacy Outback station wagon. Plates: ATC0410. It has a handful of stickers on the back windows including 2 Butchrd stickers and an ARMADA sticker.

I hope we can find it! I acquired this car on Monday from a friend who had to leave on a family emergency to Australia. He left it to me in trade for work (I make things out of carbon fiber). I wanted the car to give to my brother-in-law for his 16th birthday last Wednesday. We since told my brother-in-law we had him a car, but I wanted to get it inspected for safety… So much for that! They didn’t get around to servicing it on Wednesday and when they looked for it on Thursday, it was gone.

I hope by sharing this on the blog someone will help find the car and we can catch the people who did this. Police incident #17-205816

Call 911 if you see it.

MAIL THEFT: From an Arbor Heights neighbor:

Heads up for North Arbor Heights neighbors: (On Thursday) mail was stolen from locked metal security mailboxes, pried open and now damaged and unusable, along 43rd Place SW (one block extension west of 98th and California). Police have been notified.

sc June 9, 2017 (7:54 am)

Are Subaru’s easy to steal?

Alan June 9, 2017 (8:24 am)

Gabriel, is there any chance that the car was stolen earlier than Wednesday night? You acquired it on Monday, so I’m wondering if you left it on Tuesday for them to service. We had an older blue wagon involved in an attempted auto theft early Wednesday morning. Since thieves frequently steal one car after another, I’m wondering if it might be related. I’m checking with my neighbor to see if the car looked like this.

Gabe June 9, 2017 (9:50 pm)

It had to be Wednesday or Wednesday night. I dropped it off at 8 am on Wednesday.

Brenda June 9, 2017 (8:36 am)

Early this morning (4:30) our locked neighborhood mailbox in east Admiral was broken into. Several individual boxes were pried open. The thief was noisy enough that my husband woke up and went outside to find out what was happening. The thief was gone, but my husband saw the mess he had made and called the police. While he had the police on the phone, a man with his face mostly covered walked back from our street’s dead end where he was likely looking for more opportunities. The police came right away and one went looking for the man. I don’t know if they found him.

Heartless? June 9, 2017 (2:31 pm)

Subarus are very easy to steal if there is an extra set of keys available and someone knows the vehicle was recently transferred and left outside a shop. This almost sounds like an “inside’ job.

highland park June 9, 2017 (2:43 pm)

1990s Subarus are very easy to steal if you have a set of shaved keys. I’ve had my Subaru wagon stolen twice from in front of my house. If you drive one, I recommend using the Club.

Good news for Gabriel is that the car will most likely be ditched (and hopefully found) once it’s out of gas.

aa June 9, 2017 (5:57 pm)

I’m glad someone mentioned the club. I wonder why more people don’t use them considering the ongoing auto theft problem. Assuming if they used the club their car wouldn’t end up here as stolen… maybe its not a valid assumption?

Kathy June 9, 2017 (9:13 pm)

At 3am this morning 6/9, someone swapped the rear license plate of my daughter’s ’98 Subaru Legacy Outback station wagon for the plate from a stolen dark blue ’98 Subaru station wagon. My daughter’s car was parked on the st in front of out Alki residence. We reported it to the police. Creepy.

WSB June 9, 2017 (9:16 pm)

Different plate from this stolen blue wagon?
Gabe June 9, 2017 (9:48 pm)

Was it my license plate?!

It has to be… We need to get your plate to the police if you haven’t already.

Thanks for posting!
- Kathy June 10, 2017 (3:16 am)
  
  Yes, my daughter called the police and made a report. The police officer took the stolen plate.
- Kathy June 10, 2017 (10:03 am)
  
  Yes, my daughter called the police and made a report. The police officer took the stolen plate. My daughter remembers the 1st part of the plate was ATC, so it probably was from the stolen Subaru. My daughter’s plate (which is presumably on the stolen car) is 612XMR. However, they may have switched the plates again, as my neighbor thinks the plate switcher was aware that he was being watched.
  
  If you have an older Subaru Outback, check your plates.
  - Gabe June 10, 2017 (6:42 pm)
    
    Wow! Thanks for the info! We will keep an eye out!

WS Parent June 10, 2017 (8:47 am)

The license plate swap is very common all over Seattle and beyond. Our daughter recently experienced the same crime outside her Ballard house. The stolen plate on her car was discovered by a police officer driving down the street with equipment that quickly identified the stolen plate on her car that she had not yet noticed, which had bought the criminals extra time. The officer very kindly and patiently outlined the necessary steps to replace the license plate. Not sure how we can prevent this.

Anonymous June 10, 2017 (10:14 am)

I would recommend using specialty fasteners on your license plates vs standard Phillips head screws. The more unique the better. No guarantee thieves won’t have the hardware required to remove it, but anything you can do to make their lives harder is a good idea.