CRIME WATCH FOLLOWUP: West Seattle holdup suspect charged in 11 robberies; 2 other notes

| Crime | West Seattle news

Three West Seattle Crime Watch notes tonight:

SERIAL-ROBBERY CHARGES: On Friday night, we reported that police announced an arrest in the December 4th robbery of the 35th/Barton 7-11. Today, 22-year-old Ricardo F. Valencia-Alvarez was charged in that holdup and 10 others, and an alleged accomplice, 21-year-old Cesar Sandoval, was charged too; another alleged accomplice, Daniel A. Recinos, is already in jail and charged with multiple robberies. In the 95-page charging document filed by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, investigators detail a string of robberies, mostly at gas stations, in October, November, and December, in communities including Bellevue, Mercer Island, Kent, Renton, Redmond, and Maple Valley, as well as West Seattle, White Center, and Burien. The night we reported the 35th/Barton holdup, we noted that a Burien gas station had been held up a short time later by robbers who matched the description; that robbery yielded some key evidence – the clerk fired 11 shots at the robbers as they fled, and detectives say Valencia-Alvarez posted photos of the shot-up white BMW on social media, where he added, “We had just robbed the gas station too.”

The BMW had been carjacked in Federal Way days earlier and was found a day after the West Seattle/Burien robberies, on I-90 in Kittitas County, where the suspects are accused of abandoning it and carjacking another driver to get their next getaway car. About a week earlier, on November 29th, prosecutors and police allege, the robbery rampage included Little Caesar’s Pizza restaurants in White Center and Burien. The charging documents say Valencia-Alvarez has a record with juvenile assault and theft convictions as well as a current warrant in a malicious-mischief case, while Sandoval has a record including robbery and burglary, and had just gotten out of state prison a month before the robberies started. He’s being held in lieu of $2.2 million bail, while bail for Valencia-Alvarez is set at $750,000. (Bail was set at $900,000 for the other alleged accomplice, Recinos, who’s 20.)

Also in Crime Watch, one reader report:

REPEAT VISITOR: A resident near Lincoln Park says their security camera has caught this person repeatedly prowling his property, once to steal electricity to charge a phone, another time to try to break in, and a third time to vandalize:

(updated) The incidents have been reported to police.

And a reminder …

TALK WITH POLICE THURSDAY: The next West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting – your chance to hear from and ask questions of local police – is Thursday (January 12th), 7 pm, at the Southwest Precinct (2300 SW Webster).

1994 January 10, 2023 (10:32 pm)

Nice bail amounts. If they are guilty of all this nuisance and dangerous behaviors keep them locked up for a long time . Thanks to social media for helping these dumb dumbs get caught.

Rhonda January 11, 2023 (2:28 am)

Excellent shot grouping by that clerk. Impressive, especially considering the adrenaline surging after he was robbed.

Jethro Marx January 11, 2023 (2:20 pm)

Nice approximately 30″ group? Are you really cheering on the person who broke the law to wantonly fire at some other person who broke the law? Where did the rest of the shots fired at the car land? No one is cheering these fools on for robbing gas stations but here are fools cheering on someone trying to shoot them over some cigarettes or whatever; I hope the person who fired on the car is arrested as well. Idiot gun owners make all of us look dumb and dangerous.
- Rhonda January 11, 2023 (5:57 pm)
  
  The shooting was justified because the robbery was still active and the perpetrator(s) were still an immediate, armed threat. Perhaps if you stopped victim-shaming and took some time to review our laws you’d understand.
  - Jethro Marx January 12, 2023 (9:19 am)
    
    http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.16.020&pdf=true
    
    It’s not complicated. You cannot shoot at people running away from you with your stuff they stole. They would need to be driving towards you, pointing a gun at you, or have taken someone with them against their will. (In that hypothetical the hostage would probably hope for some better shot grouping.) The clerk actually incriminated himself quite cleanly, pointing out that when he shot at them they were clearly leaving and no longer a threat. I won’t shame him for being the victim of a robbery, but the shooting was cowardly and anything but the act of skill you have tried to claim. The car was not moving and about ten feet away as he shot through a glass door.
    
    https://twitter.com/DeedeeKIRO7/status/1613323504459599873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1613323504459599873%7Ctwgr%5Ea3f3e2c18c549c10dee050a7d717b7260f3c9109%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kiro7.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Frobbery-suspects-arrested-charged-after-incriminating-social-media-posts%2FGIIZICWREBDXPAWFDIWDUQGZAA%2F
    - The1whopostedevidance January 14, 2023 (4:38 pm)
      
      We’ll see on how charges stick, And what happens . But hey the grouping (you can see in the video by how the glass shattered) was good considering a under 3″ barrel. The image of the stolen vehicle also wasn’t at a perfect angle, those shots were taken at an almost 15 °angle to the drivers side. While hoping that the potential collateral targets in the background at that time weren’t hit. Know your facts before blaming the person trying to do their job and get a firearm pointed at them . Or come by the store and try to debate the situation in person. (Also DeeDee is a sweet gal camera dude is chill after too.
- BintechSea January 11, 2023 (6:40 pm)
  
  I’m sorry but are you saying that a gas store owner/clerk can’t protect themselves if they get robbed? That they should just allow whatever to happen to them by the robbers? IMHO what they did help the police track down the robbers.
  - Jethro Marx January 11, 2023 (8:27 pm)
    
    I don’t know about all of that. Shooting at a fleeing vehicle is dumb, dangerous, and nearly always illegal.
    - BintechSea January 12, 2023 (2:34 am)
      
      Then according to your logic this kid, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-carolina-boy-13-fatally-shoots-burglar-wounds-second-suspect-n462006, should’ve been prosecuted too?

flimflam January 11, 2023 (3:39 am)

Posting on social media about robbing places? Wow. Maybe he does need to steal, that sort of brainpower isn’t going to get him a good job I’d guess.

James January 11, 2023 (6:45 am)

And the remaining EV charger by West Seattle Bowl had its cables cut! The new charging station by Thriftway can’t come soon enough.

WSB January 11, 2023 (10:36 am)

Following up on that one today.

Also John January 11, 2023 (7:35 am)

Please tell me this is enough to send him to jail. SPD will not be happy if this guy is released.

WSB January 11, 2023 (10:37 am)

As noted in the story, all three suspects are in jail with high bail amounts.

T Rex January 11, 2023 (8:04 am)

Good for the store owner for taking matter into their own hands. If crime continues at this rate, citizens may start doing the same thing.

Skeptic January 11, 2023 (2:31 pm)

It is already happening:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-keeps-getting-bluer-and-also-more-heavily-armed/

David January 11, 2023 (8:09 am)

I wonder is the clerk still has a job after carrying a gun at work? I also wonder if he was charged by the police for firing at the get away car?

WSB January 11, 2023 (10:49 am)

No way of knowing the clerk’s current employment status but it is noted in the documents that he had a concealed-carry permit. Police don’t file charges, prosecutors do, but there’s no indication of any such investigation in this case.

K January 11, 2023 (9:07 am)

Dudes keep posting their L’s on social media.

WSB January 11, 2023 (10:54 am)

Another detail (as noted, it’s a 95-page charging document, so the best I could do was summarize) – it was a publicly visible social media account – unlike, for example, the one in the hit-run-death case, investigators didn’t even need a subpoena to see this.

Brian January 11, 2023 (9:43 am)

I absolutely believe (but simultaneously CANNOT BELIEVE) that this person posted MyCrimes.txt to social media along with Evidence.jpg. Just astounding.

Jay January 11, 2023 (10:00 am)

If you choose to carry, don’t shoot unless you are in imminent danger. Bullets will go past their target and into your community, and pot-shots at a fleeing criminal are just as likely to hit an innocent bystander. The rule “Know your target and what is beyond.” doesn’t just apply to target shooting at the range.

Pfavis January 11, 2023 (10:01 am)

Thank you to the police and law enforcement that got these criminals off the street… At least for now. We need a strong system of prosecution and incarceration and not letting these people out! No bail! We need to pay attention to the judges that are letting these guys out and get them out of office. The judges are part of the reason we have that level of crime that we do.

Brian January 11, 2023 (11:14 am)

I don’t know if you looked at the last ballot you received that had judge candidates on it but virtually every judge runs unopposed every time. You need to come up with a new line of rhetoric.
- BintechSea January 11, 2023 (6:42 pm)
  
  I wish more lawyers ran against these judges.

Cogburn January 11, 2023 (10:07 am)

Is this what it takes to keep them in jail this time?

Richard January 11, 2023 (10:24 am)

So you rob a gas station, get shot at while you flee & then post pics of the bullet-ridden stolen getaway car on your social media site? I dunno, do we give him a “hey, thanks for sharing”? I realize these perps aren’t the brightest to begin with but this guy is special, real special.

Skeptic January 11, 2023 (10:57 am)

We marvel at their self incriminating stupidity, but if 21 year old Sandoval was released from prison a month ago, how long was he even in jail for his burglary and robbery convictions? A year….two years? Can we please put these people in jail for 15 or 20 years this time? If they had shot and killed someone during one of these many car jackings or robberies there would be a lot of histrionics about gun violence and demands for more gun control, but clearly our weak punishments for these serious crimes is part of the problem too.

Sorry, comment time is over.