WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: HVAC system theft alert; assault/robbery suspect arrested; Tesla tires slashed

Three reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

HVAC SYSTEMS TARGETED: The West Seattle Junction Association is circulating this alert to businesses; we’re republishing it with permission:

… Seattle Fish had their refrigerator/HVAC system vandalized over the weekend. Someone had punctured it to drain the oil and relieve pressure. The would-be thief must have been scared off, as they not did take the system.

Last night, however, these thieves returned and broke into the back area of CenturyLink and stole two units. If your system is exposed, especially at street level, please take warning. There are thieves targeting these systems for scrap metal. We have alerted our security patrols to pay extra attention in the alleys. Please protect your property.

Seattle Fish Company and the CenturyLink facility are both on the west side of the 4400 block of California SW.

ASSAULT/ROBBERY SUSPECT ARRESTED: A 42-year-old man is in jail, accused in a shoplift-turned-robbery at Jefferson Square Safeway late last night. We requested and obtained the report narrative from police. It says police were called after 11 pm and told a man had thrown an employee into a shelf, hit a customer, took items, and left the store. Employees told them it began with the man yelling and causing a disturbance in the store. When confronted, he hit the person who confronted him “three times in his head with a toy guitar” (who the confronter was is not clear because of redactions). Earlier, officers were told, the suspect was seen “stuffing his backpack with stolen food products and merchandise”; he was reported to have become upset and lashed out when seeing an employee “recording him.” Nobody wanted/needed medical attention after all this, but the recordings helped police recognize the suspect from a different call, and they arrested him after spotting him walking near 35th/Avalon a half-hour later. The report says he was wearing the same clothes as during the store incident – and that officers also found the “toy guitar” as well as items stolen from Safeway.

TIRES SLASHED: This is from an anonymous reader:

I live at California and Hinds. I routinely park my car on 42nd. This morning two of my tires were slashed and the hood of my car scratched by a sharp object. As was another vehicle in the same block.

This happened around 11 pm last night 01/29/25. If anyone saw anything or knows of who may have committed this crime please contact the Seattle Police, two incident reports have been made.

I am beyond sickened that someone would do this. Destroying someone’s property with malicious and violent intent is a crime. Doing it in such an aggressive manner shows that it was done premeditated … let people know to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior, and Tesla drivers, no matter what your political leanings are, turn on your Sentry Modes.

We have a followup question out to confirm whether that means their vandalized car is a Tesla and if they know whether the other one was. (UPDATE: Yes, they say, both targeted cars are Teslas.)

37 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: HVAC system theft alert; assault/robbery suspect arrested; Tesla tires slashed"

  • Question Authority January 30, 2025 (3:39 pm)

    The thieves are not stealing the HVAC units for scrap metal, they are stealing the units for the specialty metal they contain to sell as scrap.  In addition the refrigerant can be used in the meth making process, someone’s making some money breaking the law and it’s quite obvious who.

    • AH January 30, 2025 (5:00 pm)

      Can you expand on the information you write regarding ” The refrigerant can be used in the meth making process” I found a dumped fridge and it was cut open making it left  complete illegal dumping mess on private property.

      • Question Authority January 30, 2025 (6:46 pm)

        One of the cooking methods utilizes Freon which is a compressed gas used in A/C units, refrigerators manufactured before 2020 also contained it but the cooks prefer larger quantities. The copper piping components are the biggest net gain much like all the current wire theft issues plaguing society.

      • Question Authority January 30, 2025 (8:11 pm)

        Units made before 2020 contain Freon, while it has it’s illegal purposes the biggest draw is the copper components.  And no, they don’t cook Meth in refrigerators so you’re good there.

  • Chris January 30, 2025 (4:36 pm)

    Does this also mean that these systems installed at homes are also targets?   How do we protect them as outside our homes?

    • Question Authority January 30, 2025 (6:57 pm)

      Thievery can happen anywhere but a home unit contains far less copper than a commercial unit, plus a dark city alleyway is more inviting that outside a house where there might be a dog or gun owner.  

    • Frog January 30, 2025 (7:19 pm)

      Good question.  The progressive thing now days is to replace one’s climate-destroying gas furnace with an electric heat pump, but I have always dragged my feet, because — heat pumps sit outside your house, and how long until the criminal community starts breaking these open to steal components to sell as scrap?  When I mention that concern, people tend to look at me funny, but here we go.

      • ltm mgm January 30, 2025 (8:32 pm)

        @Frog, If this will help change your mind, our PSE bill we just got yesterday was $35.00 last month it was $44.00

        • 1994 January 30, 2025 (11:35 pm)

          LTM MGM – Do you have an electric heat pump? PSE is the gas bill while Seattle City Light is the electric bill (if you reside in Seattle). What is your Seattle City Light electric bill  in winter with a heat pump?  Just wondering about the monthly electric bill costs  since the big push  is everyone should get electric heat pumps.

          • ltm mgm January 31, 2025 (7:03 am)

            @1994, Yes our heat pump is electric and it is about 15 yrs old, can’t remember exactly when we got it installed and our furnace is gas.  We are with SCL and our last electric bill was $239.00 and our next bill is due any day now, but the winter bills always hover around the mid $200 mark for the bi-monthly bill cycle in the Winter months and way lower in the Spring/Summer months. (is that a lot?) My husband said installing the heat pump would save us money and in my eyes he was correct. 🤦🏻‍♀️ lol!

        • Greg January 31, 2025 (10:18 am)

          I’d add to that, you can run a heatpump with electricity made from solar panels. there is no practical way to run a gas furnace on home made fuel. I swpaped out my gas furance and gas water heater for a heatpump and a heatpump water heater and added insulation and air-sealing to my house and enough solar to offset 100% of our annual electric bill (including two EVs). I got rid of my gas and electric bills and all that financed costs me $109/mo and zero out of pocket,  meanwhile gas and electric rates keep going up every year.

          • bolo January 31, 2025 (7:48 pm)

            Greg thanks for sharing. I would like to converse with you offline if possible. I am at the start of gathering information for a similar project, thanks!

    • ltm mgm January 30, 2025 (7:22 pm)

      I was thinking the same thing on our heat pump but I guess all we can do as homeowners is just be aware of what is going on in our neighborhoods and just hope that something like this never happens and not live in fear of it happening.

  • West Seattle Mad Sci Guy January 30, 2025 (5:38 pm)

    Someone else tried to walk out with items from QFC shortly before the Safeway incident. A lot of shouting ensued. I didn’t see what happened, only heard it.  I wonder if it was the same individual. 

    • WSB January 30, 2025 (9:43 pm)

      Most of this incident occurred off the airwaves – I just happened to pick up the mention “robbery” and later “arrest” so that’s why I followed up on it. The narrative redacts where officers encountered the suspect earlier, with absolutely no hint of what and where.

      • NotOnHolden January 31, 2025 (9:53 am)

        A little before 4:30 p.m., a person came in the front of QFC and used their arms to grab as many of the Starbucks cups with straws as possible.  Security stopped them by the display stand and made them put down the cups.  One cup was dropped by the front door on their way out.  This appeared to be more of a run-in and grab a bunch of items for resale online, etc., situation.

  • TvRex January 30, 2025 (8:05 pm)

    Copper piping on a residential system is worth something but not as much as a commercial unit. Refrigerant as a liquid is used in meth manufacture. If it’s in you operating system,  its a gas, if they open it up, it will evaporate unless it’s removed correctly . Plus it would need to be an  industrial refrigerant, not a residential refrigerant.

  • GG January 30, 2025 (10:23 pm)

    Beware of battery drain in Sentry Mode.

  • bolo January 30, 2025 (10:42 pm)

    Not only the HVAC units, but copper thieves also recently disabled ALL the streetlights on the I-5 southbound ramp to the West Seattle Bridge, MANY of the streetlights along the bike trail between E Marginal Way and Delridge, and rows of streetlights along E. Marginal Way.

    Evidence: Piles of stripped wire insulation along the bike trail between Delridge and W Marginal Way, just north of the scrapyard.

    • Mark January 30, 2025 (11:34 pm)

      I wonder if copper theft is the reason all of the lights along the highway on southbound SR99 coming out of the tunnel have been out for years. It can be really dark in that area on a rainy winter night until you hit the floodlights along the railyards. I also noticed that someone absolutely went to town, cutting most of the ground wires coming down from transformers on the power poles in the Youngstown neighborhood. This happened about a month or two ago.

  • Admiral-2009 January 30, 2025 (10:47 pm)

    Good job SPD, now I wish the court system would make these criminals accountable!  It’s so frustrating seeing these thieves and vandals not being punished, including paying restitution, for the crimes they commit.  

  • TJL January 30, 2025 (11:53 pm)

    It’s West Seattle Recycling where much of the purloined metal goes.  When someone shows up there with a shopping cart full of stripped wire, who is to blame?  I’m a cyclist, and almost every day I ride by or near West Seattle Recycling while the unhoused strip the insulation from wires or bang apart whatever stolen metal apparatus they can haul by grocery cart to the dead end road under the West Seattle Bridge, which they then take just down the road to West Seattle Recycling.  Who is the problem in this circumstance?

    • Derek January 31, 2025 (1:42 am)

      Ah yes blame the poor for stealing but not the rich when they do it broad daylight and even get paid to do it. This country is so backwards. Pitting the middle class to hate on the lower class is what these wealthy Elon/Trump scumbags want us to do.

      • Jeff January 31, 2025 (9:03 am)

        Derek, meet non sequitur.   Two things can be wrong, and a person can reasonably want both things to be stopped.

        • Sa February 2, 2025 (11:34 am)

          Jeff: Love your pithy, smart, and correct reply. 

      • bill January 31, 2025 (9:07 am)

        What is the matter with you Derek? Copper wire theft creates real hazards for ordinary people, and raises utility costs for everyone, including honest poor people, to keep repairing damaged public infrastructure. Although as far I can tell SPU has given up wasting money replacing the wires for lighting along the bike route from Delridge to E Marginal.

        • WSB January 31, 2025 (10:39 am)

          It would be SCL, not SPU, and if someone would specify exactly where the lighting is out, I will inquire about it. We’ve reported on this before, it’s been fixed before, but I haven’t heard anything about it lately and have not been out on that path/trail – TR

      • Question Authority January 31, 2025 (9:11 am)

        Being so called lower class does not equate to also being a thief, your continued arguments that crime is expected and acceptable is nonsense.  This is about the stealing of infrastructure that serves all of society, yet you default to your standard (rich bad, poor good.)

    • bolo January 31, 2025 (7:52 pm)

      The way I see it , it takes two. Supply and Demand. Buyer and Seller. Unscrupulous Scrap Yard and Copper Thief.

      Of course, there are numerous other (dysfunctional) societal factors.

  • cavier January 31, 2025 (6:50 am)

    oh please your Tesla  got assaulted because of politics?

  • Rob January 31, 2025 (7:48 am)

    How can we fight back about the lights being out on our dark winter roadways?  Whom do we contact?  Is this find it fix it?  How about the lights out under the West Seattle bridge around Chelan cafe as well?  I drove home on 99 south last night and it was very dark even with railroad/shipyard lights and no rain.  I’m so tired of this.

    • bill January 31, 2025 (9:09 am)

      This is Rob Saka’s job to light a fire under Seattle Public Utilities to come up with a way to harden wire installation and turn the lights back on.

    • K January 31, 2025 (9:21 am)

      Put in a Find It, Fix It ticket if there are issues with street lighting.

      • bill January 31, 2025 (7:39 pm)

        I did that a couple of months ago when the vaults on the south side of the lower bridge were opened and the wire cut out. SPU or SCL closed the lids. They’ve been opened again since, exposing the cut wires, and closed. The city is plenty aware the wire is missing.

      • Sa February 2, 2025 (11:38 am)

        I wrote to King County re: this a few months ago; directly to Mr Constantine with an unrelated thank you. Never heard back.

  • Crazystuff January 31, 2025 (9:43 am)

    It’s absolutely crazy stuff for people to be attacking and vandalizing Teslas! I would consider it a hate crime that is based on a narrow minded bias. Hopefully these people can find better things to do with their time and. ‘talent’ (eg: get a life…geezzz)

  • Admiral-2009 January 31, 2025 (2:12 pm)

    Derek – copper theft is a serious crime when streets and paths are darkened that could result in serious injury or death of a person.  These thieves and enabling recycling shops need to be made accountable!   I firmly believe these criminals need to be behind bars working jail jobs and be released when they have made full restitution to the victims.

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