Three more West Seattle Crime Watch notes:

‘PROLIFIC SHOPLIFTER’ CHARGED: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed charges this week against 28-year-old Christopher K. Takata, described as a “prolific shoplifter who has routinely targeted businesses in North Seattle, Downtown Seattle, and West Seattle.” He also frequently alters his appearance – above are some of the photos from the charging documents.In the case of the two counts of organized retail theft just filed against Takata, they involved an investigation into nine thefts over 77 days from Ulta Beauty stores including the one in Westwood Village, in 2023 and 2024, with a loss totaling more than $8,000. Investigators say Takata usually steals fragrances, and has an arrest/conviction record with more than 30 incidents – not just theft – going back to 2011, when he was 15. What we don’t know is where Takata is now; his most recent local booking was at the SCORE misdemeanor jail, booked January 31 and released the next day. Store employees and managers are quoted in the charging documents as saying they know him on sight; a manager at the North Seattle Ulta store estimated he’d taken a cumulative total of $42,000+ from that store alone.

ROBBERY SUSPECT RELEASED: The man arrested in an incident that caught attention at a busy intersection last Sunday has been released without charges being filed, though they are still a future possibility. The arrest happened on Sunday afternoon at the Fauntleroy/Alaska intersection; the police-report narrative says the incident started a few blocks east, in the 3600 block of SW Alaska, as a dispute over a cell phone. One man took it from the other and allegedly threatened to shoot the other one, which is what made it a robbery. The victim chased him to the intersection, which is where police got involved; they found the 65-year-old suspect inside the T-Mobile store. He was found to have a pocket knife, but not a gun. He spent three days in jail before being released; the narrative says the victim did not want to press charges.

GARAGE BURGLARY: Reader report, received tonight from Sara:

I wanted to alert my Seaview neighbors to a garage break-in. They took all my power tools, batteries and made a mess. This happened sometime Thursday night or Friday morning ( 2/13-2/14). I wanted to give special thanks to my neighbor(s) who reported it to SPD. I was working all night and didn’t know about the break in until I got home in the morning. Thank you, neighbors, for looking out for me! I’m so grateful.

P.S. Your next chance to talk with police at a local community meeting is likely Thursday (February 20), the monthly Alki Community Council meeting, 7 pm at Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds).

(Seattle Police photo, early Thursday)

We just checked on the status of the 28-year-old woman jailed for suspected drunk driving after hitting a townhouse on the east end of SW Roxbury early Thursday morning. The City Attorney’s Office charged 28-year-old Crystal Romo-Rivasof Renton today with DUI, and she’s still at the King County Jail, in lieu of $2,500 bail. The case was spotlighted on SPD Blotter; we’ve also read the police report via the Seattle Municipal Court files. Romo-Rivas went off the road and crashed her 2006 Honda Element – of which she’s the registered owner – in the 200 block of SW Roxbury around 12:15 am Thursday. No one was hurt. But she claimed to officers that she wasn’t driving, that the real driver was a man she’d met at a bar, though she didn’t know his name, nor the name of the bar. Officers say she also gave conflicting responses to other questions about where she’d been and where she was going, and that she was displaying various signs of intoxication, but wouldn’t cooperate with the field sobriety test, so an officer certified as a phlebotomist took a blood draw at the Southwest Precinct after they obtained a warrant to do that. Police say various evidence indicated she had indeed been driving, including a witness who saw her get out of the driver’s seat after the crash, alone. Whenever Romo-Rivas gets out of jail, Judge Andrea Chin ordered an ignition interlock device be installed on any vehicles she might drive, and that she only drive in connection with work.