Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 11, November 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Cops 'n Robbers

By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Kids vs. cat burglar:

Just before 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8, a boy, age 10, was in his bedroom in his family's Ballard apartment when a strange man started to crawl through his window. The man appeared to be in his 30s and was sporting facial stubble, a flannel jacket, and a mullet haircut (hair cropped short on top, long in back).

By the time the boy saw him, the man already had a hand in the room and his head was starting to come through the window.

"Hey," the suspect said, seeing the boy.

The boy screamed. He grabbed a rock and used it to hit the suspect's left knuckle. The suspect gasped. Just then, the boy's mother and siblings ran into the room. The boy's brother shined a flashlight in the suspect's eyes. For a moment he looked like a "deer in the headlights," the mother said.

The suspect left and the family called the police. A check of the area was made but the man with the mullet was nowhere to be found.

Unlawful, but efficient:

Just after 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 7, a man in a dark-colored baseball cap, a light shirt, and dark pants pushed a shopping cart through the jewelry section of a Northwest Seattle store. Without ever slowing down, the man grabbed an entire jewelry rack containing 120 gold necklaces, collectively valued at $1,500. Though the suspect got away, he was caught on the store's security tape, which was delivered to the investigating detective.

Canine con:

Around 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9, a man (in his 20s) got a call from someone claiming to have found his dog, which had been lost over a month ago. The man was offering a $1,000 reward for the dog's return.

The dog owner and a friend met the caller at a fast food restaurant on Aurora Avenue N. The caller, a man in his 40s, told the dog owner that he had found the dog several weeks ago, but had given it to an elderly couple who had been visiting from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He offered to go to Idaho and bring the dog back if the dog's owner would give him some gas money.

After getting a list of references from the man, as well as taking his picture and checking his driver's license, the dog owner handed him $250 in cash. The older man went back to the motel where he was staying, a few blocks away.

However, when the dog owner got home he began to feel suspicious. He called the man's references only to get disconnected numbers and fax machines. The dog owner decided to go back to motel that night and speak to the man before he left on his trip; however, when he got there he found the man was already gone.

The suspect's girlfriend told the dog owner that she'd just driven him to the bus station in downtown Seattle. She later told the police that her boyfriend was actually on his way to Oregon to visit his mother, and that he'd pulled this scam on people before. Police searched the bus station for the suspect, but the workers there said that he'd already left on foot.

Lion's share of loot:

On the morning of Thursday, Oct. 9, a Greenwood man awoke to find that a thief, or thieves, had pried loose two 25-pound, concrete lions from his porch and escaped with them into the night. The man said that together, the lions are worth $2,500.

Poopy perp:

On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 8, a Green Lake area man called the police to report an attempted burglary at his house. Earlier that day he'd returned home to find that the futon on his porch had been tipped over and a pane of glass on his back door, just off his porch, was broken out.

Although the suspect had apparently not entered the house, the responding officer did note that someone had defecated in an alcove area that led down to the man's basement.

The officer spoke to the man's neighbor, who said he'd heard a noise consistent with a falling futon and breaking glass around 2 p.m. The neighbor went outside to investigate and saw a man who seemed to be in his 20s, wearing a beard, a red jacket, and a bluish-gray bicycle helmet, on the porch. The neighbor approached the house to see what the man was up to, catching sight of him again around the rear of the residence.

When questioned, the suspect denied any knowledge of the broken window and said he was just using the bathroom. He then walked off, pushing his blue and silver BMX bike as he went.

If this SUV's a' rockin'

Two police officers were patrolling the University District at 1:34 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9, when they noticed a GMC Yukon SUV idling at NE 45th Street and University Way.

What caught their attention was that, although the vehicle was turned on, all the DVD viewing screens, including the driver's, were flipped down and playing a movie. In fact, it was pornographic film and it was easily visible from the street.

The officers approached the vehicle to investigate. Apparently unembarrassed, all four people in the truck, including the driver (a man in his 20s) kept watching the movie while the police ran the driver's name and vehicle information. In fact, the driver had a smirk on his face when he was first contacted by a female police officer.

The police informed the Yukon's occupants that they were unlawfully displaying of erotic material. The suspects turned off the ignition and left the vehicle.