Seattle Press on Line

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By Sara Longley

Apr 19, 2000 -- A 70-year-old Ballard woman is the victim of a strong-arm robbery/landscaping scam in January, which she reports to police after seeing a report of a similar incident on TV. She says that on January 5 a man came to her door and knocked loudly. When she opened the door, he immediately stuck his foot inside so that she could not shut the door again, and told her he was going to trim her front yard shrubs. The woman protested that she already had someone to do her landscaping. He ignored her, went to his vehicle to retrieve tools and began trimming shrubs without her permission. Feeling threatened by the man, she shut and locked the door.

A short time later, the man knocked again asking for a rake with which to clean up. She provides the rake and he does so. Then he knocks again demanding payment. The woman by this time just wanted the man to leave, so she asked how much. He told her $350, and when she balked at the price, he said that he was giving her a discount and the price would be "only" $250. She ends up writing a check for $260 and he leaves. She shut and locked the door behind him...

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A University District office door is the victim of vandalism one weekend when an unknown person paints on the 32" x 6'4" glass pane. When the owner tries to clean up the mess, he discovers the glass has been etched by the paint. The estimated cost of the door is $300-$400...

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A Ballard couple discover they have been the victims of mail theft when a neighbor brings over a box that had contained jewelry ordered by the wife and an empty envelope from their broker...

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In Wallingford on a recent Sunday, thieves break into a minivan parked on NE 45th Street and make off with $2 in change. Total damage to the vehicle was $350...

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At 7 a.m. on a Monday, a Ballard Avenue resident calls a major bus company to complain about the number of busses driving by his house. The company employee on the other end of the line threatens to punch the man in the nose if he doesn't stop calling...

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A Northgate man's "Life Line" alarm system is activated at 5:05 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. Emergency aid staff respond to his residence, and find it completely dark with all windows and doors locked. There is no response to their knocks, and fearing a medical emergency, they pry the front door open, breaking the deadbolt and the wood door frame in the process. Once inside, they are unable to locate the resident. They resecure the door and leave a case number and contact phone number for the absent man...

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Sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, a prowler breaks into a car in Fremont. The unknown person apparently squeezed between the passenger side of the car and thick blackberry bushes to break in through the front triangle window, then rummaged through the contents of the car. Nothing was taken, but the owner says the steering column had been rotated slightly clockwise...

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A Wedgwood couple turns over to police a Tupperware container that they believe contains marijuana. They report finding it between their property and the Burke-Gilman Trail after seeing a suspicious person walk up the trail holding something in his hand, then a short time later walk back down without it. Police place the drugs in evidence for destruction...

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A man on his way to work in the University District is robbed in the 5200 block of Brooklyn Avenue NE at 7:36 p.m. As he walks southbound on the west side of the street, he sees two young men walking the other direction across from him. When they pass each other in a dark section of the block, the pair crosses the street and ask the victim if he smokes cocaine. He says no, but they detain him and one suspect motions as if he has a gun under his shirt, asking the victim if he would like to be shot in the forehead. They then search the victim and take $70. They tell him not to look back or he will be shot and depart northbound on Brooklyn. The man calls police a few minutes later from his workplace, but officers find no trace of the suspects...

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A Northgate convenience store/gas station is robbed at gunpoint at 10:01 p.m. on a Monday. The suspect, a man in his 30s, parks in front of the glass doors, comes in and asks for change for the payphone. Then he says he has to go home to get money first. He leaves, but seconds later he re-enters the store and says, "give me the f...king money!" He has his hand in his right jacket pocket. He pulls out and shows the clerk the top half of the gun he is carrying, and the frightened clerk opens the till and starts to give the man money. The thief reaches over the counter and grabs it, leaving the store with $165.14. He drives away eastbound. The store security video is placed into evidence...

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Northgate Mall is the scene of a wild chase scene shortly after 7:30 p.m. on a recent weekend. Security (a SPD officer) is called to a clothing store in the mall. A customer has been acting suspiciously, and when he sees the clerk watching him he begins to yell at her. When the security officer enters the store, the young man turns his ire on him, hitting him and then leaves the store in a hurry. The clerk points out the suspect in the west parking lot to a second officer, who is responding to the scene in a marked patrol car. The officer shouts at the man to stop, but he does not. A chase ensues as the suspect runs through a department store with the officer in hot pursuit. The officer loses the suspect after his radio cord becomes tangled in a clothing rack, causing his radio battery pack to fall and break on the floor.

A few minutes later at 8:10 p.m., the mall security officer spots the suspect in the south end of the mall and alerts the second officer, who arrests him. The young man is found to have two outstanding warrants, and a T-shirt from the clothing store is found in his possession. He is booked into jail and the T-shirt is returned to the store...

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A man pays for $5.44 worth of merchandise at a Northgate area store with a counterfeit $100 bill. The fraud occurs on a Friday at 6:45 p.m., but the store owner does not discover it until she deposits the store receipts to her bank the following week...

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On a Saturday night/Sunday morning, a North Seattle balcony is robbed of three plastic garden chairs, two dining chairs and a flower pot containing a fake plant. Total value is about $65...

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At 12:40 a.m. on a Monday, a man shoplifts two packages of diapers from a Ballard supermarket. He drives away in an older, blue car. Total loss to the store is about $25...

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A 14-year-old and a 17-year-old are caught in the act during a car prowl near Aurora Avenue N at 11:53 p.m. on a Sunday night. When officers arrive in response to a tip, the teens attempt to flee on foot, but they are quickly apprehended. They are advised of their rights and are taken home by the mother of the 17-year-old. The case is referred for follow-up. A stereo taken from the victim's car is not recovered...

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A man is the victim of assault by milkshake at 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday at a North Seattle restaurant. His story goes thus: he arrives at the restaurant with a lit cigarette, which he places on a trash can outside the door before entering to place his order. While he is inside, a couple leaves and the woman picks up the cigarette. The couple gets into their white minivan to leave, and the victim taps on the window glass to let the woman know she has taken his cigarette, but she doesn't give it back. The smokeless customer returns to the restaurant. The woman's boyfriend follows him inside and tells the victim that he is "opinionated" and that the boyfriend should "knock his glasses off." The woman pulls him away, but before he departs he throws his milkshake at the victim, striking him in the head. The pair drives away, and an area search by police does not turn them up...

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