Burglar(s) along NE 65th Street shatter glass, take nothing (UPDATE)

December 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

UPDATE (Friday, December 9): Wedgwood Top Pot Doughnuts (6855 35th Ave NE) was hit the same night and in a similar fashion (door glass smashed in, store rifled through, little to nothing taken) as the other two break-ins, an employee of the store told us today. We were also told that the estimated cost to replace the broken, super-thick all-glass door is $3,000.

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The alarm at Bagel Oasis (2112 NE 65th St) was tripped Tuesday morning around 3 AM. When owner Peter Ryan arrived, the double-paned safety glass of one of his front doors was found scattered all the way to the bagel case at the other side of the store.

Someone had entered the store, but nothing was taken.

A couple doors down, at the Crepe Cafe (2118 NE 65th St), a pane of glass in the door was found broken, as someone had made an attempt to unlock the door from the outside.

But the door remained shut. And nothing was taken.

Cheryl Olmstead, general manager of the Crepe Cafe, didn’t seem too surprised by the burglary attempts. December turns out to be popular month to break into businesses in the area, she said, citing many examples.

But one specific Christmastime burglary attempt in particular stands out to Ryan: Five years ago, when he and his son arrived at his store to find the burglar still on the premises. They could give Phoenix Jones a run for his money, in our humble opinion.

Should anyone have information that leads “to the arrest of knucklehead who threw a rock through the front door and broke in last night,” Ryan is offering up free bagels per week for a year. Call the Seattle Police Department’s non-emergency line at: (206) 625-5011.

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While you wait for tonight’s Crime Prevention meeting, a couple crime updates

November 16, 2010 by 2 Comments

Two Three bits of crime news for you this afternoon.

Charges filed for half of the Maple Leaf Six (updated)

Of the six burglars caught in the Maple Leaf neighborhood last week, three have now been charged by King County prosecutors.

From the article by Maple Leaf Life posted today (“One adult, two juveniles charged in Maple Leaf burglary”):

“We filed on the driver of the car … and the two juveniles who were caught in the house,” said Ian Goodhew of the prosecutor’s office. The student and two other juveniles were outside in a car “and did not actively participate in the burglary,” Goodhew said, but are still being investigated.

The three other teens have not been charged yet.

Seattle Crime also has a piece up about the three charged teens (“Three charged for Maple Leaf break-in…”), which includes this rather disappointing section (the Maple Leaf Life post alludes to it as well):

Police initially believed that the three teens–and three other teens who were caught with them and have not yet been charged–may have been connected with nearly 20 burglaries in the North Seattle area. However, department sources tell us that now, detectives aren’t so sure, and that police are having trouble connecting the teens to the other burglaries.

Drat.

UPDATE (10:56 pm): Casey McNerthney, the Crime beat reporter at the Seattle P-I, has an article on the arrests as well. Read it here.

Those Security System Solicitor Guys

A Monica in the neighborhood was wondering about those door-to-door home security system selling guys.  One had been to her house lately, and I’ve heard from several others in the comments of other crime posts about these solicitors.

Here’s what our North Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator, Diane Horswill, had to say about them:

Some years ago ADT became a franchised company so some of the franchisees use sub contractors to do certain jobs.  When a concerned citizen calls the main ADT office to ask about these door to door sales, the employees are unaware of the subs so they tell them there are no ADT employees out soliciting.  Now that burglary reports can be viewed online and there are many blogs and websites on neighborhood activity it is not hard to find the hot spots.  So it is likely that this is what is going on.  I strongly recommend that people do not make a decision about an alarm (or anything else) from a solicitor.

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Arrests made, yet local burglaries continue (plus Crime Prevention meeting info)

November 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Just two days ago, I relayed the good news that six burglars were caught in two separate acts of burglary in an area of Maple Leaf (“Three burglars caught breaking into North Seattle home this afternoon“). Great news. Perhaps the recent rash of burglaries would finally come to an end.

It seems as though any celebrating may have been premature.

A home at approximately 25th Ave NE and NE 60th St was broken into just yesterday, Thursday, November 11. A resident reported being gone from the house for only an hour and a half that morning, returning to find the back door broken into and items missing.

After the burglary was called in, police made their way through the area, alerting neighbors to the burglary and to the Crime Prevention meeting being held next Tuesday.

UPDATE (6:37 pm): Seattle Crime has a post up with more information about the arrests made in Maple Leaf on Wednesday.

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Roosiehood and I are in close contact with Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center’s Coordinator, Trevor Gregg.  We have let him know that our Crime Prevention meeting on Tuesday has the potential to get far more people wanting to attend than we originally anticipated.

We will update you tomorrow on the status of the meeting space and how many more people we will be able to accommodate. We certainly don’t want to turn anyone away, if possible.

The meeting is currently showing as “SOLD OUT” on our RSVP system, but I urge you to get on the waitlist so we can see how many more people are interested in attending.

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Bryant Elementary buglarized on Wednesday night

October 23, 2010 by 8 Comments

Looks like local homes and businesses aren’t the only places getting hit by burglaries recently:  Bryant Elementary School (3311 NE 60th St) was broken into on Wednesday night, October 20th.

The following message went out via email from the school on Friday night:

October 22, 2010

Dear Bryant Parents and Community,

We want to inform you about a theft at our school that could impact our families.  Sometime Wednesday night, our school office was broken into.  Cash and a number of checks were stolen from our safe.  Only checks written for scrip, coffee and Chinook Books were taken.

The Bryant PTSA will be calling families and requesting that they cancel any checks that have not been deposited.  Families will be asked to rewrite the check and deduct the bank fee cost that they incur.

The PTSA and our school will also be looking into ways to improve the safety of check storage at the school.  We have filed a police report and the investigation is ongoing.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Gayle Everly, principal
Kim Fox, principal
Monica Mac, PTSA President

I have sent an email to the school in return, asking for contact information should anyone feel the urge to help the school out in any way.

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Burglaries continue in the neighborhood

October 20, 2010 by 22 Comments

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.

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