WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Bike thefts, car prowl, burglars and catalytic-converter thieves scared off

TRAILER-TOWING BIKE THIEF: Aaron reports, “Some guy came down our dead end road and stole my wife and 10-year-old son’s bikes that I had just moved outside to work in my shop.” This clip shows him loading them into a pickup trailer:

Closer look at the pickup and the thief:

Aaron says this happened near 46th and Roxbury.

(added 2:39 pm) ANOTHER BIKE THEFT: Mike sent this – suspected to be the same person in Aaron’s report:

I wanted to report a bike theft that happened in my carport on Monday afternoon. The thief pulled into my driveway about ten minutes after I left to take my son to his Kung Fu class. He browsed the bikes I had hanging on the racks and took my younger son’s (7 y/o). My wife’s bike was locked, but I’ve never locked the kids’ because it’s never been a concern.

Video:

(back to original roundup) AND ANOTHER BIKE THEFT: Texted report:

I am heartbroken; my 2019 red Kona Lava Dome with side bags/saddle bag, says Support 32 on them, bike serial number BIKO19LDL, was stolen from my work place [Providence West Seattle] between 10 pm Wednesday night and 4:30 am Thursday

BEACH DRIVE BURGLARY ATTEMPT: Walt reports this happened to his tenant around 12:45 am Tuesday in the 4800 block of Beach Drive SW – the tenant was awakened “by front doorbell ringing continuously along with door knocking.” The resident did not respond, thinking they’d go away.When the knocking/doorbell ringing stopped, the resident got up to check and found two people trying to break in through the kitchen window, The resident “screamed and yelled and they ran away.” Police incident # is 21-250910.

CATALYTIC CONVERTER THEFT INTERRUPTED: Carolyn in Highland Park says this happened at “almost 5 am, on a 2006 Toyota hybrid Highlander. I ran out when I heard it and yelled at them- it was actually hilarious, I was kicking his legs hanging out from under the car with my bare feet. It was enough though to make them take off in their light gray Mercedes. I unfortunately didn’t get a good look at both of their faces, it all happened so fast- I was out there in seconds, but they still got through a quarter of the pipe.”

GATEWOOD CAR PROWL: Texted report:

Last evening, probably between 5 and 7pm, during broad daylight a BMW’s window was smashed in on the corner of SW Austin Street and 41st Avenue SW. Criminal took items from the vehicle. This is the 3rd vehicle to have its window broken in the last 3 weeks on the same intersection. This time in the broad daylight! Police report was filed again too.

bolo September 24, 2021 (12:07 pm)

From the photo, the truck license plate looks like “C51231X.”

Aaron September 24, 2021 (1:02 pm)

K not X
TT September 24, 2021 (1:05 pm)

We think it might be C51231K, but maybe it’s an X. We were contacted by a person who saw our post on FB. He thinks this truck belongs to his friend. The truck and it’s trailer was stolen from Auburn a few days ago.
- Mike September 24, 2021 (3:31 pm)
  
  C51231K is a 1999 Ford F-150

Bike Index September 24, 2021 (12:16 pm)

looks like the same guy from this theft https://twitter.com/PeladoCollado/status/1440127075222908934

TT September 24, 2021 (1:37 pm)

That is definitely the same guy! Where was this bike stolen? This guy also stole a Roto Mower from a home on 35th ten minutes after he stole our bikes. He’s very brazen. It was 11am and my husband was home and just on the other side of the door where the bikes were. He had the door closed just enough so he couldn’t see the guy approaching. He heard some noise, but thought it was a delivery getting dropped off. Based on our security camera footage the guy could hear my husband speaking to me on the phone and he still went for the bikes. He was willing to take his chances. Don’t know what would have happened if my husband had caught him in the act. We did report this to police even though we know little will come of it. It is important to report these incidents and please remember to vote!!!
- Mike September 25, 2021 (10:22 am)
  
  https://neighbors.ring.com/n/zDRaQQbhgZ video of mower theft.Plates are from a 1999 F-150, but the truck being used is similar year SuperDuty.

Alex S. September 24, 2021 (12:28 pm)

Is there a higher res / original version of the video that gives a better read on the license plane number?

Boinsted September 24, 2021 (12:45 pm)

I ran the plate C51231X and came up with no results. Tried some other options and none came back as valid- so likely a doctored plate. That is the same guy as Bike Index notex in the twitter post.

eric September 24, 2021 (1:17 pm)

Craig September 24, 2021 (1:23 pm)

Sure would be nice to have more police cars on patrol as a visual deterrent, but alas those things cost money. No, it might not have prevented any of these, but having cop cars in the area must help reduce the willingness to do these things.

Peter September 24, 2021 (1:40 pm)

I agree, we need more police these days instead of pushing to defund the police. Crime levels are rapidly escalating and that doesn’t even take into account crimes that go unreported.

Also John September 24, 2021 (3:22 pm)

We need more police and more prisons!

JKK September 24, 2021 (2:08 pm)

It’s a good thing so many people wanted to “de-fund” the police. Your wish has been granted.

Brian September 24, 2021 (3:37 pm)

SPD’s budget hasn’t really been altered in any meaningful way in the last few years. Try again.
- Seriously? September 24, 2021 (4:15 pm)
  
  That’s not even close to accurate Brian. Please check your info before you post things like this. What’s next? We haven’t lost any Seattle police officers either?
- Wseattleite September 24, 2021 (4:38 pm)
  
  Budget or not, people’s stance to defund the police has lowered moral and effectively reduced the police force which was the goal of that movement. Your wishes have come true. This is not a utopia I care to live in. It is time to try again. Rebuilding the police force.
- smallbizowner September 24, 2021 (4:59 pm)
  
  250 less police on the force, regardless of budget. Try again.
heartless September 24, 2021 (6:50 pm)

It’s even more complicated than anyone normally wants to consider, let alone talk about, but here I go: by and large, the amount of police has very little effect on the amount of crime.

If you truly seek to reduce crime, policing is NOT the way to do it.

Awkward, I know–but it’s true, and it’s been borne out by study after study.
- sgs September 24, 2021 (8:56 pm)
  
  Heartless, sounds like you’ve been doing some research. So the studies say more police does not reduce crime, right? What were their theories about what DOES reduce crime? That would be more interesting.
  - JES September 25, 2021 (6:34 am)
    
    Crime comes from economic inequality. So, address that.
  - heartless September 25, 2021 (9:28 am)
    
    SGS,
    
    I’ve been out of school for some time, and no, I haven’t done any research recently. But studies on these issues don’t really age, and so the basics should hold true today as well as they did decades ago.
    
    These are a slew of factors that reduce crime, and note that here I am agnostic as to whether or not their costs (fiscal or philosophical) make sense, I’m just laying out things that seem to have an impact re reduction in crime.
    
    Preschool education–more kids in preschool = less crime later on.
    
    Keep older kids in school. Lower the age at which kids can legally leave school, and reduce the rate of high school dropouts.
    
    Vocational training either in high school or at the community college level or as alternative punishments for crimes.
    
    Limit access to alcohol at the population level–higher alcohol taxes, alcohol sales curfews, etc.
    
    Neighborhood beautification: make places prettier, don’t have abandoned buildings, ugly vacant lots, boarded up windows, etc.
    
    Police visibility–in general and, particularly, at hotspots. Have cops walk or be on bikes, and have them be in the community (note that police visibility doesn’t actually correlate with the number of police, although you might think it would).
    
    Mental health services. In general a dollar put into basically any mental health service fund will go further towards reducing crime than a dollar put into a police budget.

Roxhill neighbor September 24, 2021 (2:29 pm)

I’m pretty sure I saw this guy with that trailer come out of the alleyway between 31st SW and 30th SW and turn south on 30th right in front of me. He had a scooter with a blanket partially covering it and was driving all over the road. Turned left (east) on Roxbury into the intersection before it turned green. I was behind him all the way down Roxbury, he went down Olson towards 509 north and took the W Marginal exit and headed south on 599. He was all over the road the whole way swerving into other lanes and I could see he was on a flip phone the whole time. This was yesterday afternoon at 1:13pm.

Chad September 24, 2021 (5:56 pm)

Did you see where he got off 599?
- Roxhill neighbor September 24, 2021 (9:02 pm)
  
  Chad, no I continued north on 509 towards 1st Ave S bridge. I saw him take the exit and head south onto 599. That’s the last I saw.

WSB September 24, 2021 (2:38 pm)

I am adding above, after Aaron’s report, a report that came in right after this was published, from Mike, with what might be the same guy.

B-Check September 24, 2021 (5:05 pm)

Wondering if Aaron is more concerned about his stole wife, or son’s bike! He he!JK – but as someone who had their bike stolen several years ago from in front of True Value on a busy Friday afternoon, I can definitely empathize. Yes, my bike was locked up with a thin “inconvenience” cable lock, but aparently it didn’t even slow them down as I was in the store all of 5 minutes. I know some people are really struggling, but bike theft sure seems to have evolved to a professional criminal ring. For some of us, our bikes are one of the few things we spend a good chunk of our limited “extra” budget on, and would really like to see this tackled.I am personally not a de-fund the police proponent, but do support police reform and a shift to community policing (think more bicycle patrols and walking beat cops trained in mental health and social services), but that tends to cost more than our traditional policing.

Chad September 24, 2021 (5:42 pm)

This is my friend’s truck that was stolen from Auburn. The trailer was stolen from somewhere else. There was a video with a clear view of the plate and when it was ran by SPD it came back to a white commercial truck. I have seen a lot of comments on social media about going after the guy and to be honest we went looking for the truck last night. If you feel inclined to go find a thief and stolen property please don’t take it out on the STOLEN truck.

TT September 24, 2021 (9:17 pm)

Chad, I posted this incident on Nextdoor and someone reported this morning seeing a truck and trailer matching this description parked near “Boeing hill and west marginal”. Not exactly sure where this is, but wanted to share in case it was helpful. Hope your friend gets his truck back and this guy is taken off the streets.
Random Citizen September 25, 2021 (12:14 pm)

Pretty sure I saw this truck without the trailer parked on 41st across from the Quail Park Memory Care Residences of West Seattle. That was about an hour ago not sure if it is still there, only stuck out cus the guy did an erratic u-turn before parking.

eric September 25, 2021 (10:00 am)

https://www.apple.com/airtag/
Has it gotten to this? Tag everything we own.

Audifans September 25, 2021 (3:00 pm)

So enough of the ‘they need food on the table’ is why they steal. Everyone needs their vehicles, stuff to make it in today’s world. Dare I say some of this thievery is to support drugs

Sorry, comment time is over.