The Wedgwood View reported yesterday that a break-in had occurred on the 7000 block of 24th Ave NE on October 11.
From the full police report, the homeowner arrived home in the afternoon to find her front doors open, at which point she called 911. After police arrived, it was found that someone had entered through her kitchen window (flower pots placed on the window sill had been removed). It was not clear at the time that anything had been taken from the house.
We move now to Thursday, October 14, and 6800 block of 17th Ave NE.
Homeowner finds the south kitchen window broken and items thrown onto the floor. Missing from the home were two laptop computers, and some video games and game systems. An older video camera had been removed from its case but left in the house.
And now to this Monday, October 18, near the corner of NE 70th St and 19th Ave NE.
From homeowner Kathie (from the NE Seattle Moms group, used with Kathie’s permission):
Our house was burglarized yesterday sometime between 9:30am and 4:30pm. We live near the corner of 70th and 19th. The burglar(s) took a rock and smashed in the window of our back door, reached through, and unlocked the deadbolt. They took jewelry, electronics, savings bonds and a small amount of cash. They went straight for the master bedroom – pulling out every drawer and dumping it on the floor. They even emptied my son’s piggy bank (clearly no shame). The police said they were likely only there for 10-15 minutes.
One thing to note – the officer said that if anyone comes to your door and seems suspicious, just call 911. There are many legitimate door to door salesmen, but he just said use your instinct – if it seems shady, then report it. After this happened, I talked to my mom who recently house sat for us. She said that someone came to the door and asked her “Where would you like your newspaper delivered?” She just said, “I don’t live here, but just leave it where you typically would.” Afterwards, she said that she thought it was a bit unusual. We haven’t taken the newspaper for 3 years so it was clearly a scam.
Since yesterday, I have talked to several people with very similar stories. Be on the lookout. And – back up your hard drives – that was the one piece of sanity I had as I was driving home yesterday after learning that we’d been burglarized – I had just backed up my hard drive, so the things that mattered (my pictures) were safe. The rest is replaceable.
What is there for a homeowner to do? I’ll leave you with a link to the Seattle Police Department’s North Precinct Crime Prevention page. There you can find tips for keeping your home secure, data when most burglaries occur, and more.
You may also want to contact our North Crime Prevention Coordinators for more help (before their jobs disappear). Their contact information is included on the North Precinct Crime Prevention site as well.
Friday evening, October 15, we had a man pound loudly on our door at about 8pm (we live in 7500 block of 19th ave NE). He claimed to have information about free updates for security systems…related to a recent false alarm ordinance the city had passed. I told him I thought he was suspicious, and he got surly and told me he “knew more about” my security system than I did. I don’t know if he was going door-to-door, or just going to houses that had security signs/stickers. At any rate, I’m wondering now if he was related to this.
Well, he’s certainly not going to get anyone’s business that way, that’s for sure.
Here’s a link to a Seattle Police site about suspicious activity:
http://www.seattle.gov/police/contact/reporting/suspicious_activity.htm
Just some tips. But I think calling him on it and spreading the word here were good things to do.
We live at 70th & 23rd and maybe two-three weeks ago a “Bieber-esque” teenaged guy knocked on the door at around 7:30 and asked “Did you receive your paper in the usual spot today?” and (with the usual fracas of dog barking and kids in the background yelling) I said “Yes” and he said “OK, thanks” and left. I definitely thought it was odd but was a bit distracted–should have asked if he was with a paper or why that was of interest to him…
Saturday, October 16th the same guy came by my house on the 6800 block of 20th Ave NE. I have filed a report with the Seattle Police Department. Same story told. He has a 3-ring binder with flip charts about the delayed response times from the police and a poorly printed out dot matrix style letter he claims is from the Seattle police department as confirmation this is a good service. He asks if you want to upgrade your system. Altogether very fishy as he had no information on me. Which is odd so I said I was not interested. Here is a description: White Caucasian Male, 28-32 years old, 5’11”, brown hair razor cut (crew cut length), blue eyes, thin to athletic build. Looked like he was a runner.
Interesting…I think I’ll take both your comments and wrap them up into a post tomorrow.
TVM1 – How did you file the report? Did you call, or try the community online reporting program (CORP)?
The link for that is here, by the way: http://www.seattle.gov/police/report/default.htm
I called the Seattle Police Department’s number and reported it there.
Thought you would find it interesting that a co-worker over in Samamish had the same “Fake ADT” scam going on in their neighborhood 2 months ago. Basically, a person going to houses with ADT security signs and asking them the same questions around an upgrade. Maybe one of the TV stations will pick this up as a story as it is a bigger issue than just our neighborhood..
I should add that ADT was contacted and they have confirmed they do not send anyone door to door to do any sort of sales. Clearly a scam..
@TVM1 — I inadvertently already replied to your post on the Roosie blog. Oh well. At any rate, this sounds like the same guy who came to our door on 10/19. He was wearing a tobacco colored canvas coat, and he had the binder, etc.
Did the guy you saw have dark brown hair or could it have had some red in it? A guy roughly matching that description came to my door late Monday (10/25/10). I didn’t answer the door after all that has been going on, but observed him as he looked around. He was looking around as if to see if anyone could see him and said something out loud (couldn’t make out what he said) and then when he heard a noise come from inside, he promptly turned and walked down the stairs. He was carrying a binder and had a large backpack on. He also walked by my neighbor, who was outside, and proceeded to another home (he didn’t appear to actually go door-to-door like someone who was either trying to sell something or someone trying to collect signatures, etc. I didn’t witness him doing anything illegal, but something seemed off about him. He was about 6′ tall with brownish hair (may have had some red in it) and had a thinathletic build and had either bluegreenhazel eyes. This was on 17th Ave NE.
Did the guy you saw have dark brown hair or could it have had some red in it? A guy roughly matching that description came to my door late Monday (10/25/10). I didn’t answer the door after all that has been going on, but observed him as he looked around. He was looking around as if to see if anyone could see him and said something out loud (couldn’t make out what he said) and then when he heard a noise come from inside, he promptly turned and walked down the stairs. He was carrying a binder and had a large backpack on. He also walked by my neighbor, who was outside, and proceeded to another home (he didn’t appear to actually go door-to-door like someone who was either trying to sell something or someone trying to collect signatures, etc. I didn’t witness him doing anything illegal, but something seemed off about him. He was about 6′ tall with brownish hair (may have had some red in it) and had a thinathletic build and had either bluegreenhazel eyes. This was on 17th Ave NE.
OH Boy! A new Police Blotter. Once a week?
Sadly, no. Just the occasional alert if there seems to be a lot of activity.
Unless you want to write it. *HINT, HINT*
About 10 months ago, a man of the same description came to our house on the 6800 block of 20th Ave with the same binder, asking the same questions. He definitely seemed to be fishing for information on our alarm, under the guise of wanting to give us a free update. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable speaking to him about our alarm system, esp after he couldn’t provide a card or a manager’s name, etc. He was very confident and good at ‘talking-the-talk’.
We had someone on our street (Park Road) a few weeks ago, Sep 26. I still have his card, FWIW. It was printed on a home printer, not professionally done. Here is the email I sent around our neighborhood back then:
“I just wanted to let everyone know there was a guy in a blue shirt knocking on doors, selling ADT alarm systems this afternoon (Sunday Sep 26). He appeared legit, with business cards and a permit, but after I told him everyone here had an excellent alarm system and that I was aware of scams with companies, he left the street without knocking on any more doors. The name on his card is Matthew Herling from Homestar Security.
This is a good time to remind everyone that we should be extra careful about door to door salespeople, especially if they are asking you questions about your home security systems. There have been problems in Seattle recently where houses were robbed a short time after such door to door sales encounters. This guy was likely to be legit, but it is always a good idea to not discuss your home security information with strangers. There are many companies you can contact yourself, if you are thinking about updating or installing a system.”
Same scenario just this evening, a man with blond hair in his 20’s by the name of Shay came to the door around 7:40-ish in the evening selling ADT alarm systems. He gave me a card that was also poorly made. I called the number on the phone and they are closed from 5pm on. WTF! Does Homestar send their employees out after business hours? It could be legit, but I cannot ‘buy’ the ‘door-to-door’ business at 8:00pm!
And here’s another break-in to report, this one occurring sometime during the day Friday, Oct. 22 on the 7300 block of 16th Ave NE.
2 more burglaries on 18th Ave NE between 70th and 73rd this week.
One on tues. and one today (Friday). Daytime hours while homeowners at work. Entering via back doors or basement window.
Been hearing about the person asking where paper should be delivered, seems they are just saying something as they attempt to see if anyone is home. makes it hard to find a reason to answer your door at all.
I don’t know. I think that if these guys are knocking on door during the day, answering the knock is the way to go, to signal that you ARE home during the day. It may be the poor folks who aren’t around for that knock that later get the knock through the kitchen window.
Okay. Another burglary post to come.
We just had a ADT guy come to our door tonight at 8:15pm. We sent him away so quickly that I didn’t get his name or business card. But he was in a van that had ADT written all over it. We’re on 21st Ave. NE around the 70th block.
I would say: Contact your local ADT and let them know how you feel. I understand that it’s a business, and right now there’s a perceived need in our neighborhood, but nighttime door-to-door seems to be creeping people out.
I would say the same if they came to my own door.