The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has filed charges today in three cases we’ve covered this past week:
MAIL THEFT: One day after 37-year-old Jason A. Turner‘s seventh arrest this year, he is charged with possession of stolen mail. Court documents say a 911 call brought officers to the 6500 block of 25th SW, where they saw Turner “carrying a large pile of mail” – until police arrived, when they saw him dumping it into a trash can, as well as pulling more mail out of his pants and throwing that away too. They found yet more in his pockets, as well as items of clothing that had been removed from packages, plus a folding knife. In all, the police report says they believe he was in possession of 70 pieces of mail that wasn’t his. (What they recovered, they took to the Westwood Village post office, the documents say.) This is the second felony case filed against Turner in two months; court documents say he has no felony convictions. Prosecutors asked for $5,000 bail, and that’s what a judge set.
Suspects are also now charged in two incidents we reported last Wednesday night:
STORE ROBBERY: 34-year-old Charles P. Lotaki is charged with first-degree robbery for a shoplift-turned-holdup incident at the Walgreens in South Delridge. Employees say they were familiar with him from previous incidents and he had been “trespassed” – ordered not to return to the store – previously. When they confronted him Wednesday night, the charging documents say, he pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot them. The store manager evacuated her employees; when Lotaki walked out of the store, police were there, and a 15-minute standoff ensued before they took him into custody. His weapon turned out to be a “realistic-looking” Airsoft gun. This is his fourth arrest in two months, with other felony and misdemeanor charges pending, including a non-West Seattle case filed today, in which he is accused of breaking into a downtown drugstore. His bail is at $76,000.
ID THEFT: The woman arrested after showing up Wednesday at the Westwood Village Bank of America and allegedly trying to use stolen cards is now charged with two counts of identity theft. 36-year-old Lidia Gutierrez-Vega is accused of trying to use cards, checks, and ID belonging to someone who was the victim of a burglary in Kent. After her arrest, the charging documents say, she claimed another person offered her $100 to impersonate the victim and try to make changes to her account. Gutierrez-Vega has.a felony theft conviction on her record as well as pending cases including two counts of being in possession of a stolen car; jail records show she was booked and released five days before this arrest for investigation of auto theft. Her bail is set at $2,500.
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