Auto theft is a category of crime that’s been on the rise for three years in Seattle. It’s what this Crime Watch roundup is all about:
APPARENTLY DUMPED: Two people sent photos (the one above is from Kay) of that gray Hyundai Tucson, left in the back of Riverview Playfield, clearly hotwired. It’s been reported to police.
Next – three auto-theft cases in which charges have been filed, starting with one involving a theft reported here:
RED-TRUCK THEFT: You might recall Brooke‘s report last week about the theft of the red 1986 Chevrolet truck shown above. Two days later, we updated the report when she told us it had been found and that someone had been arrested. The suspect, 40-year-old Daryl B. Allen of SeaTac, was charged today with possession of a stolen vehicle. Charging documents say Allen has a long record, including eight felony convictions on auto-theft-related charges dating back to 2006. The documents also show the WSB post from Thursday and note that a 911 tip reported seeing it near California/Graham; police spotted it a short distance north and followed it until the driver parked it in the 4000 block of California. After a man and woman got out, police tried to intercept them, and they ran, but were quickly caught. The man was Allen, police say, who claimed the truck had been given to him. They also say he had dropped a backpack in which they found a knife the truck’s owner had left in its cab, as well as “multiple shaved keys, a roll of window tint, a small number of narcotics and paraphernalia, and some bank cards and driver’s licenses that did not belong to him.” In the truck they found a screwdriver that they were able to use to start the truck’s punched-out ignition, and they found a witness who said they saw Allen use a screwdriver to turn off the ignition when he parked; the same witness has security video showing him getting out of the truck. He was arrested and booked into jail, where he remains in lieu of $15,000 bail; the woman was questioned and released.
BLUE-TRUCK THEFT: Bail was also set at $15,000 for the suspect just charged with stealing a blue F-150 truck in West Seattle in May; at the moment that’s somewhat irrelevant because the suspect has been in jail in Pierce County since September on five charges there. 22-year-old Nathan J. Adrian of Puyallup is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle in the West Seattle case. Court documents say he was found, passed out, in the stolen truck at 26th and Juneau while police were on the way to the owner’s house in Gatewood to take the report. Apparently the truck’s owner had tracked it there – the charging documents don’t say how – as had a victim of another crime, a gas-can theft. That person parked his own vehicle so this one wouldn’t be able to leave before police arrived. The court documents say police found “multiple vehicle keys” and drug paraphernalia in Adrian’s pockets. Though he has no conviction record yet, he has three other King County cases pending trial – two burglaries and one stolen-vehicle case.
STOLEN ACCORD: This case involves a suspect who prosecutors say was found in Highland Park on December 3rd with a Honda Accord stolen in Kirkland, 45-year-old K-Deane H. Fenner of Capitol Hill was arrested when officers pulled him over after running the plate on the car he was driving and discovering it had been stolen. They then noticed the car was running with a screwdriver stuck in the ignition instead of a key. The charging document includes this photo:
Fenner is described as having a four-state criminal history, but the first-appearance judge, who is not named in the documents, set bail at $500, so that’s what it was even after the charge was filed, and he is now out of custody.
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