Sara sends this sad sign:

She writes, “Last night someone stole a SECOND Bumble from our yard (North Admiral). This was a replacement Bumble from the one I reported stolen on Dec. 2nd. We strapped this one down pretty good…but some a–holes brought scissors and cut him down.” Seen a Bumble suddenly show up in or near your house/apartment/garage/cave? He has to be somewhere.

Four West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share:

OVERNIGHT BREAK-IN: Just received from Erik:

I live on 50th and Grayson and got a call from an elderly neighbor that someone broke in through her garage this morning at 1 am while she was sleeping. She woke up to them rummaging through her dresser drawers in the room she was sleeping in. She startled them and they ran out but they had some jewelry by then. She mentioned to the police how surprised she was, that she always has felt safe in our neighborhood and they responded that this is a new occurrence that has been moving in to the area and has been happening more frequently. The neighbor next door to her was prowled at 4 am the night before. In both cases they tried going through a garage or basement door that had cover from the street or light. Just wanted to bring this up to the neighborhood. Be safe!

BICYCLE STOLEN: Another reminder that crime can happen to anyone. Even a City Councilmember. West Seattle-residing at-large Councilmember Lorena González tweeted this last night:

Thanks to Joe Szilagyi for pointing out the tweet from González, who lives in The Junction.

BICYCLE FOUND: Thanks to “Northwest” for reporting this apparently dumped (which tends to mean “stolen”) bicycle on the Ferry Avenue slope:

NW says, “Discovered this bicycle while out for a walk along the top of the eastern-facing hillside about 20 feet down from the street on Ferry Ave SW. it is a mountain bike, the brand Mongoose.”

CAR PROWLED: Another one in the area between Morgan Junction and Lincoln Park:

The other day, you reported that a neighbor up the street (6300 block of 47th Pl SW) had their car windshield broken for the second time, unfortunately. We just noticed (Tuesday) night that my car had been rifled through; since it’s currently parked along the street instead of in its usual place by our driveway to allow access for some water repairs, we may not have noticed right away, so I don’t know which night it happened. I also don’t know how they got in, since the car had been locked and there was no sign of damage.

Of course as a diligent reader of WSB, I know not to leave anything of value in the car. I’m thinking of just taping a big sign inside the window: “Dear thief, please don’t waste your time breaking into this car. I’ve already taken everything of value out of it.”

Thanks for sharing Crime Watch reports to inform your neighbors across the peninsula via a website that’s accessible by all, since crime unfortunately knows no neighborhood bounds. If you ever have anything to report, tell the police first and then please e-mail us, editor@westseattleblog.com – or if it’s happening now, aka breaking news, please text/call 206-293-6302.

Four West Seattle Crime Watch notes:

STOLEN CAR: Katie’s car was stolen from outside her home on Genesee Hill early today, near 49th SW/SW Dakota [map]. She describes it as “a metallic tan 1999 Chevy Tahoe, license plate AKZ1671.” Call 911 if you see it.

ROBBERY: We’re requesting the police report on what’s logged as an “armed robbery” in the 4000 block of 20th SW [map] overnight. Will add details here if/when we get them. (Early Wednesday update: Commenter said it involved a taxi passenger running out on a fare. While the report wasn’t in by day’s end, so we still don’t have the narrative, SPD did confirm that, adding that no one was hurt, but a suspect was arrested. … SECOND UPDATE Wed. am – the report is in, including:

On 1-5-15 at 0234 hours, officers responded to 40XX 20 AVE SW to investigate a theft of services. When officers arrived they located the yellow cab a block to the north. The cab driver, V/XXXXX explained that he had given S/ a ride from the Capitol Hill area to this location. When he arrived, S/ reached into the front seat area and grabbed his Garmin GPS unit and smashed it on the ground. S/ tried to grab V/’s cell phone away from him as well. V/ exited his cab as S/ exited the cab. S/ then chased V/ around the cab trying to hit him. V/ is a smaller man, S/ is a very large man. S/ stopped chasing him and went inside 40XX 20 AV SW. When V/ did not immediately leave, S/ came back outside and began chasing him around again trying to hit him again. V/ was able to avoid him and get into his cab and drive to the location where police contacted him.

Police went to the house in the 4000 block of 20th SW, where the owner invited them in, and they found the suspect in a bedroom. He went outside with the officers and was identified as the suspect, and arrested. Turns out he had a warrant for domestic-violence assault too.

REPEAT VANDALISM: From New Year’s weekend, a report of someone smashing a car’s rear windshield with a rock in the 6700 block of 47th Place SW [map], “second time that this has occurred in three months.”

‘LOOT IN THE FRONT YARD’: Also over the weekend, Cara discovered what looked like “loot” dumped in her yard south of the Charlestown water tower, sometime overnight Friday into Saturday – “a duffle-type bag (that) looks like it was ransacked and left … it still has some clothes and shoes in it. The bag itself looks homemade.” Please comment if this sounds familiar.

We hope you’ll never have anything to report in Crime Watch – but if you do, once you’ve reported it to police, let the rest of your West Seattle neighbors know what happened, by e-mailing the basics to editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you.

Before Seattle Police “cold case” Detective Michael Ciesynski retires soon, he’s making one more pitch to solve what’s believed to be our area’s coldest case of all: The September 1959 murder of 62-year-old widow Pearl Kongsle, outside her home near Lincoln Park. This is a bizarre case for many reasons. West Seattle videographer Mark Jaroslaw tells the story in five minutes, above, including interviews with Det. Ciesynski and writer Daryl McClary, who wrote about the case for HistoryLink.org. (We suggest, if you’re not familiar with the case, watch the video, then read the story – and read more about the detective here.)

ORIGINAL REPORT, 3:52 PM: Two more West Seattle Crime Watch reports this afternoon. First: Stolen cars are sometimes abandoned nearby, sometimes driven many miles, so this could be anywhere. From Kimberly:

I woke up New Year’s morning to find my beloved 1996 Nissan 240SX (lic# AFC7216) stolen from the street along Erskine Way, just west of California Ave, south of the Alaska Junction. The loss of the car is bad enough but it also contained all of my ski gear.

My car is pictured (above), parked outside of Uptown Espresso at Edmunds and California. Mine is the car in front; both cars pictured are Nissan 240SXs (or similar model) and I would like to speak to the owner of the car parked behind mine. That car is a souped-up version which showed up in the neighborhood a week or two ago but which has not been around since. If you see either car please contact me by phone at 2O6-379-6OI4 (voice or txt). The skis are Salomon Siam 10s in a 149cm length, with Salomon Z10 Ti bindings, the boots are translucent orange Tecnica Diablo Race and the poles are a blue Swix Mach Carbon. … There were also other items such as helmet, goggles and gloves.

CAR PROWLS: Meaghan reports, “Up in Pigeon point on 21st Ave Sw, two of our neighbors had their windows smashed on their cars this morning. I’m not sure if anything was stolen.” We also had a comment earlier today from PSPS on the day’s first story, reporting what looked like the aftermath of car prowls on 40th SW north of The Junction; we couldn’t find anything obvious when we went to look, but if you were a victim, please let us know so we can include in Crime Watch coverage, editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you.

ADDED 5:57 PM: From Dawn in Highland Park:

Several neighbors report license plate theft on my block. Sometime in the past several nights, someone stole the license plate off my RV parked in my backyard (not fenced to alley access). Some neighbors said they were replacing plates with different plates. Mine was not. 12th & Henderson.

Two more West Seattle Crime Watch package-theft reports just in, and both include visuals of the thieves:

GENESEE HILL THIEF: The photo and report are from Angela:

Around noon today, we drove around to retrieve a package from our neighbor’s house – they were out of town and had asked us to keep an eye out because they’d been informed the package was to arrive while they were gone. When we drove around to grab the package, we witnessed a tall white male, walking down the street with a similar package, and once we confirmed the package was no longer on their front porch, we drove up next to the individual and asked him where he was going with the package. He turned right back around and said he’d put it back. We got out of the car, took the package from him and he continued to walk toward SW Genesee – then headed west up Genesee Hill. We pulled around and confronted him, told him to leave the area, and took a picture of him. It’s likely that he’s still roaming the streets – he said he felt stupid and apologized, and would not attempt to do this again. We searched the area about 15 minutes later and couldn’t find him.

Description
White Male
Roughly 6′ 2″ tall
Wearing a paperboy-style hat – gray
Black flannel-material jacket
(Average) build
Blue water bottle in hand
Either blue or green eyes, not brown
Scruffy in look – probably early- to mid-30’s in age

If you know who this is, the police report to reference is 15-450056.

LINCOLN PARK THIEF: Near Lincoln Park, a Tuesday theft was caught on video shared by the victim:

That video starts with a blue car heading right to left; forward the video to 1:28, where you’ll see someone walking into the video from the left, going down stairs, running back up with packages, and hopping into that same car, which takes off. The package’s owner explains:

On Tuesday, December 29th, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, this video shows at around 2:25 pm a Blue CRV slowly drove past our house, looked at recently delivered packages and then dropped off a thief (out of view) who stole the packages from our porch and then jumped back in the Blue CRV. Be on the look out for this guy and the car around West Seattle! A police report has been filed and any information you may have, or if you see the car and/or the man in the video, please contact Officer Jenkins, referencing incident 15-449867.

Thanks to the West Seattleite who just shared this story. They can be very convincing, or intimidating – as learned by the person whose story we published last May – but some may not be aware of this:

I thought that the residents of West Seattle might like to know that there are phone scammers (identity thieves) a’ trolling.

Around 3:30 this afternoon I received a call from someone who claimed that he was a lieutenant with the Seattle police department. He alleged that there was a warrant for my arrest, because (are you ready?) I had failed to show up for jury duty on 15 December after having been mailed a summons on December 2, 2015.

This miscreant tried to get me to give him my credit card number to pay the $800 “fine” which he informed me would be refunded to me when I appeared in court tomorrow at 3:00 PM.

Additionally, he informed me that if I failed to pay today, I would be arrested on the warrant when I appeared AND I would have to spend the New Year’s holiday in jail!

I said that I’d be sure to bring my toothbrush when I appeared tomorrow.

I was, by this time, screaming and profane. “Lt. Fred Burns” then informed me that I was failing to follow a direct order by an officer and that I could be arrested for that and because I was being so uncooperative he was going to send a squad car and the deputies would be executing the warrant immediately.

I said, “Please go for it! I’m going to go get dressed properly for my impending incarceration!” I then hung up on him!

The King County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning back in September, too.

Three West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports:

RECOGNIZE THOSE BENCHES? If you do – you might be able to solve a case of illegal dumping that happened around 10:30 pm Saturday night in Westwood, on 24th SW near Thistle. Dumping is a problem in more than a few spots around West Seattle, but this time a surveillance camera caught it happening:

The camera’s owner says, “I’ve reported a lot of dumping and graffiti in the neighborhood but first time we recorded dumping live. … It’s about the 4th time dumping has occurred in that exact spot on our lot in the last 9 years.” If you have any information that might help track down the dumpers – the video’s been provided to police, too – contact them and refer to case #15-447815.

Also from the WSB inbox:

CAR PROWL: From Jeremiah in Gatewood, at 39th SW and SW Orchard:

Our Honda Element which we leave virtually empty and unlocked was gone through last night. The glove box was left open and papers were everywhere. Nothing of value is ever left in the car. It looks like several other cars on the block were hit.

STOLEN ITEMS RECOVERED: One night earlier, Collin‘s cargo trailer was broken into in the 5400 block of 48th SW, and tools were stolen. Hours later, they got some of them back, and he says this is how it happened: His wife Amber mentioned the theft on Facebook, and got a message that tools resembling theirs were spotted on OfferUp – someone in Burien was trying to sell them. Collin and Amber went to a Burien Police station and in the meantime managed to arrange to meet the sellers to see if they could identify their tools before officers moved in – Collin says they wanted to meet up in a public place but the sellers invited them to their house instead. With police following, they headed over. Almost instantly, he was shown his own pressure washer – which even had his surname written on the bottom. He relayed a message to his wife outside to have police move in, and they did. He’s not sure whether they made arrests or are compiling evidence for a wider investigation, “but all in all we recovered more than probably 99.9% of the people ever burglarized.”

Four Five reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

STOLEN CAR: Kirk‘s car has been stolen, again:

My 1994 Honda Civic Hatchback was stolen from my condo parking lot on California Ave. SW (just south of The Junction), sometime between 10:30 p.m. Dec. 25 and 8:00 a.m. Dec. 26. It is a greenish color. This is the third time that car has been stolen in West Seattle over a course of about 15 years.

Its plate is ADY3889. As advised via @getyourcarback – where SPD tweets all vehicle-theft reports (though not with locations, unfortunately, which is why reader reports are vital so we hear about and can publish West Seattle thefts) – call 911 if you see it.

RECOGNIZE THESE BURGLARS? Maria has these screen grabs from surveillance video of burglars who broke into her “private fenced carport” on 26th SW in Westwood, including one Grinch-ily clad in a Santa hat:

Maria says they stole “clothes, shoes, camping gear, pots and pans.” If you have any info on their identities, the SPD case number is 15-443118.

BREAK-IN ATTEMPT: Liz near 31st/Elmgrove says someone was “rather violently” rattling/pulling at the doorknob of the “converted garage” at their house around 11:30 last night. Turning on a light apparently scared them away.

PACKAGE THEFT: From Tricia:

Neighbors in the 3800 block of Charlestown, please be aware that a package was stolen from my front porch. It was a food shipment from Blue Apron. Strange thing to steal because it is only ingredients for meal preparation, but evidently the thieves take anything they see on a porch. I’ve reported the package stolen, but want my neighbors to be aware.

P.S. If your neighborhood doesn’t have a Block Watch – here’s how to start one. And once you do, get involved with the West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network, which resumes monthly meetings in January.

ADDED 5:03 PM – LICENSE PLATE THEFT: Greg sent this very early Christmas morning (late Christmas Eve), and we missed it until Diane‘s comment below:

I just filed a police report as my back plate with tab was apparently stolen while parked in my alley spot behind 42nd, 2600 block near Safeway/Hiawatha. It likely happened over the past 24-48 hours.

Plate theft is more common than you might think – as pointed out here a year ago – so know your number and keep an eye on it.

Just a reminder to not leave anything in your vehicle because car prowlers don’t take the holiday off – and if you have visitors, remind them too. We have one West Seattle Crime Watch reader report, from Steve in the 2700 block of 37th SW:

My 2003 Toyota Camry was car-prowled sometime between 10 pm last night and 5:30 am this morning. When I went out to the car at 5:40 the glove box was open and stuff strewn around, but they didn’t take anything! They left my registration and insurance, my cell phone charger, my business parking pass. Either they didn’t go into the trunk or decided to not steal (a relatively heavy box containing a present for a relative). I can only guess that they got spooked and left quickly.

We’re hoping for a quiet holiday for all. If news does break, though, we remain on call – text or voice, 206-293-6302.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports, starting with a followup on the Friday robbery/attack first reported here on Tuesday:

ROBBERY/ATTACK SUSPECT CHARGED: 19-year-old Diego Allejundro Gonzalez is now charged with first-degree robbery, accused of attacking a 67-year-old Highland Park woman last Friday and stealing her glasses. Along with filing the charge, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office asked that Gonzalez’s bail be doubled, to $150,000, and the jail register indicates that it has been. The charging documents make the same allegations we published here last night from the police report and probable-cause paperwork – that Gonzalez first tried to break into a house, then attacked the woman as she walked home from visiting her husband at a care facility, punching her in the face twice and running off with her glasses.

The case summary confirms that he is on probation from his plea bargain earlier this year related to a vehicle theft (bargained down to car prowl) and DUI case, saying he was “placed on 24 months probation and was ordered to not possess alcohol to obtain a substance-abuse evaluation and follow all treatment recommendations, and to commit no further law violations. By his egregious behavior in this case, the defendant has shown he is not willing or able to comply with such court orders.” Prosecutors also say he had one juvenile conviction, at age 17, for harassment. The robbery charge incorporates the physical-violence component of the current case.

Meantime, the donation drive that the victim’s friends launched to help her pay for repairing the dental damage done in the attack passed its goal within hours, and was closed. We’re hoping for a followup soon on how she’s doing. We will also track this case through the system.

*************

Also in Crime Watch, we’re including this reader report with some time sensitivity:

STOLEN BY CAR PROWLER(S): From Angelene:

My car was broken into last night on the 4500 block of 42nd Avenue SW. It has been reported to the police. Very unique items were stolen, and I am hoping you can post them in an effort to locate them if selling is attempted:

2 Canon 5D Mark 2 bodies
1 Tamron 24-70 lens
1 50 mm 1.4 lens
1 large leather camera bag

These are pretty obscure professional kitchen knives and unless you read Japanese, might be hard to identify. However, they look like really nice kitchen knives and there aren’t usually a lot of them floating around outside of a few niche shops.

Black canvass and leather kitchen knife bag by Boldric containing
1 Singatirin Honyaki 240mm Chefs knife (crappy yellow laquered wood case”
1 Moritaka Aogami 210mm Chefs knife (“no hand grab” sticker on wood case)
1 Watanabe Kaibou Deba 210 butcher knife
1 Richmond Honesuki 165mm butcher knife
1 Yoshikane SKD 95mm paring knife
1 Sakai Yusuke 180mm petty knife
1 Blue Thermopen probe thermometer
1 Small .1x600g digital scale with Thomas Hammer Coffee sticker on top

Angelene said they will of course be watching various websites in case these turn up, but wanted to get the word out locally too.

Two reports of West Seattle mail theft – first, from Lori:

Just walked out [Monday afternoon] to get our mail (on Webster near Solstice Park) and our mailbox was stuffed with opened cards and mail from 2 other addresses. Not sure how it got into our box – perhaps it was on the ground and a passerby thought it was ours. We’ve called the post office and will also be contacting the 2 addresses. Just hope that nothing of value was in the cards.

We were also forwarded a report of someone breaking into three locked mailboxes along SW Thistle in Upper Fauntleroy. Here’s the US Postal Inspection Service‘s advice on preventing and reporting mail theft.

Two reader reports to share this morning:

THEY EVEN TOOK THE PILLOWCASES: From Jim in Arbor Heights:

Heads up for those in the Arbor Heights/Marine View vicinity. Our home was burglarized (Wednesday). It happened while we were at work. Busted the window pane on the front door to gain access…the door was wide open when we arrived home with our cat standing in the door way. They got watches, jewelry, some heirlooms, cash, some jackets. A couple of pillowcases are missing….I guess a criminal’s version of a reusable bag. It could have been far worse. Police report filed.

We followed up with Jim to ask about any particular items that people might watch out for if they’re browsing online listings, etc.:

They took a number of very identifiable items: a Breitling Blackbird watch with a black leather strap. They also took some mid 1800s daguerreotype photos in original leather cases. They look like little embossed leather books that open up with picture inside. These were family images. Not sure why they took those except for the fact that the pictures are printed on metal plate that looks like silver.

CAR BREAK-IN: From Randall:

Overnight (Tuesday night-Wednesday morning), 31st & Trenton: Backpack full of kids’ clothes & snacks taken. Nothing of value other than sentimental. Thanks for the broken window, though!

P.S. If you’re interested in overall stats, SPD shares them in various ways, but we just noticed that they updated the Seastat page for the first time in almost two months, and you can view the slide deck there for an easy one-glance look at key categories – for other precincts as well as ours (Southwest, which includes West Seattle and South Park).