Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 6, Issue 12, December 2002

Copyright 2002 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

COPS N' ROBBERS

By LEAH WEATHERSBY

"Stick" 'em up:

On Tuesday, Oct. 22, a man in his 30s, wearing a green shirt and white cap entered a Lake City area bank and approached a teller with what appeared to be a gun wrapped in a kitchen towel. He handed her a note demanding money, which she turned over. The suspect then fled, apparently shedding his shirt and hat at various locations around Lake City, as he was observed by more than 14 witnesses.

The suspect was caught a short time later, about a mile from the scene, on a Metro bus. In his possession police found a stick (the "gun" used in the robbery) and a bag of candy.

Frat house cleaned out:

On the evening of Saturday, Nov. 9, members of a University District fraternity house, as well as 20 weekend guests from a "brother" fraternity in Oregon, returned home to find that over $3,000 worth of their belongings had been stolen. Missing items included two computers, two cellular phones, backpacks, and a credit card.

The fraternity members and their guests had all left earlier that day to attend a University of Washington Husky football game. They suspected that the thief or thieves had entered through an alley door, which, though key-coded, may have been propped open. Although all of the bedrooms had locks, most were not in use. The one door that had been locked was kicked in.

All the items were believed to have been taken during the day, except for one of the visiting Oregon men's cell phones, which someone had absconded with the night before, as he slept.

Another round for his friend:

On Friday, Nov. 8 at about 10:30 p.m., a man in his 30s was drinking with a friend in a Lake City tavern when he noticed a man passed out on the bar a beer still in front of him.

The man woke his fellow patron up and suggested it might be time to stop drinking. However, a few minutes later the sleepy gentleman's friend returned with another round. The man advised the newcomer a man in his 20s to stop giving his friend alcohol, whereupon the newcomer invited the older man outside.

They both left the bar at which point the younger man punched the older man in his left cheek. The older man said he didn't want to fight and went inside to tell his friend what happened.

The older man came out once more to see what the suspect was doing, at which time the suspect punched him again then left the scene.

Suspicious passengers:

On Friday, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m., a cab driver (in his 20s) picked up a young woman and three men (of various ages between 20s and 50s) in front of the QFC store in Crown Hill. The group asked to be taken to a nearby bank.

Once there, the woman and one of the men waited while the other two men went into the bank. When they returned, the group asked to be taken to another bank across the street. When the driver protested, telling the group he thought they were suspicious, one of the men gave him a $20 bill to hold until they were done.

When they arrived at the second bank, the two men once again went inside while the third man walked around to the back of the building. The woman then asked the cabbie to turn off the meter. She got out of the car and went around to the passenger side door, which she opened, grabbing the driver's wallet from the front seat.

The driver demanded his money back, at which point the woman removed $40 and a credit card. Finally, the cabbie said he was calling the police. The woman threw his money and card at him, pushed him, and ran off.

The police officer arrived just in time to see one of the men emerge from the bank. The officer yelled for the man to stop, but he started to run. The officer chased him around the bank where he saw him wave to another suspect. Just then, two more officers rolled up in police car, stopping the two men from escaping. Serendipitously, a wittiness appeared who identified the two men in custody saying they were passing checks stolen from him.

The woman and the third man weren't found.

Bad dog?:

On Monday, Nov .11, a man returned to his Northeast Seattle home after an absence of nine days to discover that intruders had been about. Apparently, the trespassers or thieves (it wasn't immediately clear what had been taken) had accessed the home by reaching through the "pet door" and unlocking the door from the inside.

Maybe he already had one:

On Saturday, Nov. 9 a Green Lake man called the police to report that someone had broken the rear, driver's side window of his 1995 BMW. All the thief took was the car's owner's manual.