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FOLLOWUP: Plea bargain for Gregory Thompson in fish theft and other cases

September 25, 2018 12:00 pm
|      32 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

We’ve reported multiple times on Puget Ridge resident Gregory L. Thompson, but the case that drew the most attention was the June theft of thousands of dollars in seafood that had just been delivered to Seattle Fish Company, caught on security video.

You might recall that police found the fish when at Thompson’s home in connection with another case. Thompson, who is 28 years old, has been back in jail since mid-June. And now court records show that he has pleaded guilty in that case and others, in one big plea-bargain deal. Among the other cases it covers: The witness-intimidation charge mentioned here, in which he went to the house of the owner of a vehicle he had stolen – after it was returned – and shot out its window. Other cases involved firearms and drug violations. Thompson is scheduled for sentencing on October 5th; court documents say prosecutors will recommend 15 months in state prison, including drug treatment as part of the Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative option.

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32 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: Plea bargain for Gregory Thompson in fish theft and other cases"

  • Swede. September 25, 2018 (12:11 pm)

    15 months (maybe) for all that!? Wow! That’s really weak. 

  • CG September 25, 2018 (1:03 pm)

    Typical Seattle.   Criminals get slaps on the wrist and put back into the general public  while those affected have to deal with the trauma and costs.    Seattle needs to stop feeling so sorry for them.  Lock them up, treat them, make them pay back society by cleaning up streets, graffiti, etc.   Make the penalty worse than the crime and maybe they will start to think twice.  If not, 3 strikes and lock up em for good.

    • um September 25, 2018 (4:15 pm)

      “Make the penalty worse than the crime and maybe they will start to think twice. “What?  What is that supposed to mean?  I am so confused!  

      • Righteous September 26, 2018 (9:41 am)

        Good- sounds like you’re thinking twice

  • Marty September 25, 2018 (1:04 pm)

    Another “Milk and Cookies” sentence for a habitual offender. He will be out in less than a year.

  • Mj September 25, 2018 (1:06 pm)

    This punishments smells like rotten fish

  • Buttercup September 25, 2018 (1:09 pm)

    I agree. Shooting ,robbing ,intimidation, not 1st offences. Where can we make our voices heard to the prosecutors and judges?

  • rico September 25, 2018 (1:17 pm)

    That should teach him to do no wrong again.

  • Concerned September 25, 2018 (1:49 pm)

    Yeah, the alternative drug treatment. I think from all the ones I’ve read on the WSB, that program is batting zero

  • coffeedude September 25, 2018 (2:35 pm)

    Are there any stats on the DOSA program?  I never hear of any success with this.  And yes 15 months is way too short.  He will get credit for time served plus good behavior so thats just a minor slap.

  • wscommuter September 25, 2018 (3:20 pm)

    The story doesn’t give us all the information on what specific charges he plead to, so difficult to know for sure if this is a good outcome or a bad one.  But to correct some of the comments above … this isn’t a “Seattle” thing.  It is a “State of WA” thing.  He was charged in King County Superior court on felony charges – the law applied was state law.  Likewise, the prosecutors and judge are bound by the sentencing ranges set by the state legislature – WA is a determinate sentencing state with a formula that sets punishments that the court is required to work within.   Complain to your legislators if you don’t like the standard ranges.  As for the DOSA – there are mixed results.  Some people do go through that and succeed – get clean and stay out of trouble.  Others re-offend.  My understanding is that there is more success than failure, but I can’t quote statistics to show whether I’m right.  I would observe that like “man bites dog” stories, we hear about the failures because they are newsworthy (and should be!).  We don’t hear about the successes (boring).    

    • WSB September 25, 2018 (3:54 pm)

      I’m sorry, I usually report in copious detail and tend to get feedback that it’s too much detail (aka TL:DR). Here, I was a bit under time constraints. There are five different charging case numbers involved, four from 2018 and one from 2017. Some had reduced charges as a result of the plea bargain. Each agreement is a ~30-page download, which takes time and money, so I opted to go for the overview once I ascertained that the agreement covered all the cases. But I’ve just gone back for the ones I hadn’t previously downloaded. It appears he has pleaded guilty to (and keep in mind some of these are reduced charges):

      witness tampering
      possession of stolen property
      possession of stolen car
      a drug charge
      another drug charge

      The case involving unlawful firearm possession is being dropped entirely.

      • chemist September 25, 2018 (11:37 pm)

        A firearm enhancement would normally not be compatible with DOSA, although I’m not sure if this firearms possession was related to an enhancement-eligible crime (witness intimidation by shooting out windows) or just was possessing a concealed firearm when you weren’t supposed to.

    • Apotheosis September 25, 2018 (9:24 pm)

      Thank you for inserting some facts and reason into the discussion. Disheartening how little people know about the justice system they are so quick to decry.WSB – I always appreciate the extra detail you put in. Thank you so much for the service you provide to our community!

      • Concerned September 26, 2018 (4:14 am)

        We know enough to know it’s a joke. How many times have we read someone on the blog who’s been into court more times in one year than there are months in that year only to see them get a slap on the wrist?How many times have we read about POS with over a dozen felonies just get rotated right out the door? In pretty sure every POS that has gone through the DOSA program that has been in the WSB has failed. Do any of the readers remember cars getting graffiti spray painted around West Seattle some time ago? Well I caught him doing it, chased him down and confronted him and got him arrested. He pulled a broken bottle on me which is assault and post Miranda not only confessed to the car I saw him do, but 70 other cars. He also confessed to pulling a broken bottle on me and was dumb enough to drop the bottle in the grass just feet from his arrest. And you know what’s sad? I’m having doubts he’ll even get prosecuted 

  • Cynical girl September 25, 2018 (3:29 pm)

    These criminals just need more hugs, peace circles and pinky promises not to do it again. I’ve never voted in my life (I’m 54) and I just registered as a Republican. So happy I did it. #walkaway

    • um September 25, 2018 (4:17 pm)

      Shame on you for never voting.

    • Kim September 25, 2018 (6:40 pm)

      You registered as a Republican because of this court case?  Give it t some more thought!

  • f September 25, 2018 (3:48 pm)

    seems like the default criminal plea is to accept drug treatment, then promptly reoffend over and over. great.

    • flimflam September 25, 2018 (6:58 pm)

      hmm. meant to post as “flimflam” as always. must have hit send too quickly.

  • Friend O'Dinghus September 25, 2018 (4:11 pm)

     Fifty Four and never voted before? There’s a problem. I guess that means no jury duty either. Model citizen.Meanwhile, the sentence does seem light for the seriousness of his crimes, and his persistence in remaining outside the law. 

  • RT September 25, 2018 (4:34 pm)

    He must have had a hell of a legal defender to score such a lenient plea bargain. Shooting out that window could have been way more tragic if someone had been in the room and it’s discouraging to see “witness intimidation” downgraded to “witness tampering”. This guy should serve at least three years, and one ought to be doing community restitution…perhaps working at a fish hatchery.  

  • Buttercup September 25, 2018 (6:30 pm)

    To hear that thevunlawful gun possession is being dropped completely is very disheartening and frustration.  I’m sure they let him keep the gun since there was no charges about it. Sorry, being snarky, it appears ok to have illegal gun possession now. How many others will use this case as a way to plea deal about using illegal possessed guns.

  • Rick September 25, 2018 (8:33 pm)

    Oh,come on! Give me a break. Laws are only applied to law abiding legal citizens!

  • Jim P. September 25, 2018 (11:58 pm)

    “The case involving unlawful firearm possession is being dropped entirely.”  So much for effective gun control.  Won’t enforce what’s on the books.Nice wholesale rate for his crimes too.  Don;t commit one crime, it’s cheaper by the dozen and repeat offenders get a sentencing discount when they show their “Get Out Of Jail Quick” loyalty card.(Offer not valid for immigrant families with small kids and Canadian joggers who didn’t notice the border crossing signs.)

  • Friend O'Dinghus September 26, 2018 (5:26 am)

    I appreciate your frustration Jim P., but it may be that the weapon charge alone was not going to be seen by a jury as ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’, so that charge alone was jettisoned before court. This could be in order to not jeopardize the other charges, or perhaps even to save resources for cases/charges that are winnable in an open courtroom. I don’t know the specifics of this case, however one can think of scenarios where this regrettably is a perfectly logical course of action; a gun without prints dropped in a field near the crime scene, or a gun recovered from the floorboard of a vehicle where several people were present. I’m not trying to be cast you as incorrect, but I would like to point out that this is a single charge where we do not know the reason for it being dropped. Breath deep everyone, and carry on making West Seattle a wonderful place to live, work, and raise a family.

  • Lola September 26, 2018 (9:43 am)

    Why not wait another year and see if we can add more to his plea bargain?  It seems like every time this guy gets out he gets right back in trouble again.  What happened to the 3 strikes and your out law? Or have we dropped that entirley from the law?

  • Rick September 26, 2018 (9:57 am)

    Yeah,and the Seahawks should only play teams that we know are “winnable” on the open field. How can we make that happen? Maybe replace coach Pete with a politician?

    • Fishfry September 27, 2018 (8:34 am)

      For everyone who is crying about this outcome, I was personally effected by this guy’s actions and understand that we have to weigh the desire for retribution for the negative impact of his criminal behavior with the cost the taxpayer and justice system bears to put him through multiple trials. For example, he was already tried for one of the drug charges and it ended in a mistrial due to some technical legal exception around police testimony. Trials are expensive in time and money – I think the prosecutor made the right call to do the plea bargain. Even if he only gets 12-15 months in  prison, he has pled guilty to multiple crimes, including felonies. This will have a significant impact on his future ability to find employment, etc.I also want to point out that the crimes he was charged with are only the ones where there was enough evidence and police resource to followup on. I have personal knowledge of several other crimes including package theft, theft of a trailer full of tools and equipment, multiple drug deals, etc. Basically this guy chose to be a career criminal for the last couple of years. I’m glad he is locked up and sincerely hope the time away and the DOSA program are effective in resetting his attitude and behavior.

  • Nike September 26, 2018 (10:52 pm)

    I would like to see a lot more prosecution of white collar crime people who are stealing from all of us. It would be nice if more people would go to hearings and see the court cases first hand my mother took me to many as a child because she was interested in the area we lived
    in. I wish more people went into King County jail to see who we are incarcerating currently. Right now you really can only do that by working in the clergy . You have people allowed to eat of the garbage inside the jails. They are seen by doctors but often denied medical treatment so that becomes another breeding ground for MRSA and God knows what else to make its way out into the general public. Some of these people then get funneled into state contracted hospitals and everyone of them is put on some type of medication. It seems to me
    that when the city spends money on our homeless population or our drug addicted individuals a lot of our money is going to RX companies .I thought I read this gentleman did have a home and is probably doing anything in his power to keep it. I agree this guy needs to go away for awhile but there are so many people that do and so many that do not.

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