WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen black Nissan pickup (update: found); package theft; two court cases

In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight, two reader reports and two court cases. First, the reader reports:

STOLEN PICKUP TRUCK: The photo and report are from Omar:

New West Seattle resident here. Less than a month and my truck is already stolen off Avalon. The truck is a 1995 Nissan Truck XE in black with a chrome grille and KC lights.

The plate in the photo is NOT the one on the truck now – its current plates are C99327Y. (MONDAY UPDATE: Thanks to the commenter who spotted it. Omar says he has it back.)

PACKAGE TAKEN: The video and report are from Mike:

Anyone else reporting this idiot? Hope he enjoys the 40 pounds of cat litter… :(

I’m on 9th Ave SW between Thistle and Elmgrove. This was today at 3:30 pm.

And from the court files, we have two West Seattle cases in which the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has filed charges:

CAR-THEFT SUSPECT INTERPRETS 72-HOUR RULE: 33-year-old Jaime Verdugo-Torres is charged with motor-vehicle theft for allegedly stealing a Jeep Wrangler from the former Seattle Lutheran High School parking lot at 41st/Genesee. Police arrested him July 28th after detecting via Automated License Plate Reader that he was driving a stolen vehicle. After he parked it on Puget Ridge, they stopped him when he got out of the truck, and the charging documents continue:

Verdugo-Torres went on to say the vehicle had been parked in a private parking lot for several days, so he looked up the abandoned vehicle laws in Seattle and said his interpretation of that law was that since the vehicle had been parked, and seemingly unattended for over three days, he could take possession of the Jeep.

He has another auto-theft-related case pending, and a theft conviction, and remains in jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.

SHOPLIFT-TURNED-ROBBERY: 26-year-old Thomas J. Joo is charged with second-degree robbery for a July 29th incident at the Westwood Village QFC. Charging documents say store staff confronted Joo as he tried to walk out with three bags of frozen shrimp without paying for them. Prosecutors say Joo “pulled out a bloody needle, uncapped it, pointed it towards (the employee), and said ‘If you come near me, I’ll stab you’.” The employee backed off; Joo left, and police found him nearby, allegedly still in possession of the stolen shrimp (valued at $75), plus “several used syringes.” The charging documents say Joo has no known record. He remains in jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

13 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen black Nissan pickup (update: found); package theft; two court cases"

  • Marina August 7, 2022 (9:40 pm)

    Stealing a Jeep Wrangler? How dare you sir?! There’s a special place in hell. 

    • Haha August 8, 2022 (7:11 am)

      I’m amazed it drives.    In 1988 a friend bought a brand new Jeep Wrangler.  It was back with the dealer 21 times the first 19 weeks for repairs.   Piece of junk.

      • Marina August 8, 2022 (5:04 pm)

        I’ve got a 95 and mine drives great. Every once in a while something goes wrong, but that car is so simple that I do my own repairs. Haven’t had to take a wrangler in since 2011 when they had to replace my clutch and I wasn’t too confident in doing it myself back then (at that point I’d only had the car for a year). These days I could take that whole engine apart and put it back together if I had the equipment. 

  • Skipalapondo August 7, 2022 (11:51 pm)

    I’ll bet if we instituted a “72 hours and your car is fair game” law it’d open up a lot of new parking spaces real quick. On a serious note though, how do people come up with stuff like that when the cops are asking? I presume substance abuse was a factor.

    • Dan Tehensky August 8, 2022 (5:08 pm)

      I recently had a vehicle stolen (it was recovered) and when I approached the thief (who was easily found, because his name and date of birth were on the police report) he acted like my vehicle was his. Once you wrap your head around that, keep in mind that there are attorneys in this world that will defend this person and their right to your stuff, and inability to be prosecuted, simply because, well, this is exactly what I’m going through right now.

  • HS August 8, 2022 (7:28 am)

    Wow. That’s a new one. 

  • WS4life August 8, 2022 (8:50 am)

    Why isn’t the city using bait cars and packages???

  • SEENTHETRUCK August 8, 2022 (8:51 am)

    That truck was parked in the corner of the empty parking lot west of the Bartells Headquarters building across 26th ave. Seen around 7pm-ish

    • SEENTHETRUCK August 8, 2022 (10:05 am)

      Just Checked, its still there 8/8 at 10am – Empty lots by the Nucor plant west of Bartells HQ.

      • WSB August 8, 2022 (10:12 am)

        I am emailing Omar, thanks.

        • WSB August 8, 2022 (10:29 am)

          … and he has the truck back. Thanks!

          • Socialcontract August 8, 2022 (10:56 am)

            YES! Good work SEENTHETRUCK!

      • 1994 August 8, 2022 (9:54 pm)

        Yah for some good news! 

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