One man was arrested when a marijuana “grow house” operation was busted in the Top Hat neighborhood Friday morning, Jan. 22nd by Bellevue Police, working with the King County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team.
“This was a joint mission with the Eastside Narcotics Task Force (ENTF) and SWAT on a search warrant for a grow house in Burien,” said Officer Carla Iafrate, Bellevue Police Public Information Officer. ”A couple flash bangs were used for distraction when breaching the doorway. One adult male was arrested.”
The ENTF is a partnership of the King County Sheriff’s Office and police departments from Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland and Mercer Island.
Bellevue P.D. was apparently involved because it was serving the search warrant, according to Sgt. John Urquhart of the Sheriff’s Department.
No other details of the operation are available at this time.
Early Saturday morning (Jan. 23rd) a Metro bus driver, 56, was assaulted in Tukwila, receiving injuries that sent her to Valley Medical Center. Three persons were later arrested, one for the assault and two for vandalizing the bus.
And as police were converging on the scene, a King County Sheriff’s police cruiser crashed into one from a Tukwila Police officer. The Tukwila officer was treated at the scene, while the Sheriff’s deputy was taken to Valley Medical Center, where he was treated and released.
The incident occurred just after midnight, when the Metro Route 124 bus stopped in Tukwila at South 144th and International Blvd. to let passengers off. A group of seven or eight youths gathered at the back door but only two got off before the doors closed. At least some of the group went to the front of the bus and the driver was punched in the head several times, knocking her unconscious.
Meanwhile two suspects kicked and hit the rear door of the vehicle, breaking glass and bending the door frame. All suspects then ran off.
A Tukwila Police K-9 dog tracked the group to a house in the 13700 block of 45th Ave South. Eight people were detained. Eventually witnesses from the bus identified three people who were directly involved in the altercation. They were arrested.
All three were booked into the Youth Center, including a 15 year-old boy from Renton, for felony assault. Two males were booked for felony vandalism, ages 16 and 17, from Tukwila and Kent, respectively.
A passenger called 9-1-1 from the bus after the assault, and as two police cars came to the scene, they crashed into each other.
According to The Seattle Times, Hollie Beston, 31, of Burien, was arrested along with her ex-husband, Brian Beston, 36, of Kent, for filming themselves raping their 4-year old daughter and sending photos of the abuse to a man in Southern California.
The two were arrested by Seattle Police last week after the FBI learned of the crime from the recipient of the photos, a man facing child-molestation charges in Southern California, said charging documents filed Wednesday in King County Superior Court.
The Times goes to on report that the Bestons have each been charged with:
- First-degree child rape
- First-degree child molestation
- Sexual exploitation of a minor
- Depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct
Both are currently being held at the King County Jail on $500,000 bail each.
Some other amazingly unpleasant facts from this story:
- Police believe the Bestons abused the girl for several months.
- Hollie Beston is also accused of operating the camera and sending the images via a cellphone and the Internet.
- Police apparently searched the Bestons’ homes in Kent and Burien last week and confiscated computers, cameras, flash drives, cellphones and other electronics, court papers said.
The child was taken into custody by state Child Protective Services.
We did our own Google search for “Hollie Beston” and found a profile for her (direct link here), which includes some incredibly ironic statements like:
- “I am a fun loving and caring person.”
- “I have a problem with caring for people too much, which leads to people trying to use me.”
- “It is a lot of fun meeting new people but I am careful because I have a young one to take care of.”
Here’s exact wording from her Google Profile:
Hollie Beston
Medical Assisting ; Student at Kaplan University
Burien, WashingtonInterests:
Traveling, astrology, baking some, reading, swimming, going for walks…I am a fun loving and caring person. I love to goof off and raising my child. I graduate in August but will be done with classes in the middle of march then plan on continuing my education by going for my RN. I have a problem with caring for people too much, which leads to people trying to use me. I enjoy doing a variety of things and have hopes and dreams that will someday come true. It is a lot of fun meeting new people but I am careful because I have a young one to take care of.
Places I’ve lived
Golden Valley, AZ ; Lenoir, NC; Kent and Burien, WA
Read the full Times story here.
Barry L. Saunders was arrested Wed. afternoon in Portland.
The Seattle P-I reports that Barry L. Saunders, the suspect in last Saturday’s deadly shooting at Southcenter Mall, was captured and arrested Wed. afternoon (Nov. 26th), apparently in Portland, Oregon.
Police say that Saunders is the gunman who shot 16-year-old Daiquan L. Jones to death on the first floor of the remodeled shopping center.
Jermaine D. McGowan, 16, was also shot. At last report, he was still in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center.
Full story is here.
SEATAC – A Pierce County boy who got in trouble last year when he stole a car, got caught, then snuck onto a flight to Phoenix then San Antonio is back in the news again after being arrested at SeaTac Airport after trying to board another flight Tuesday.
The Transportation Security Administration claims that Semaj Booker was captured at a gate at SeaTac Airport after he failed to show a boarding pass.
Surveillance video shows Booker passed through the central checkpoint security area without any problems, but it’s still not clear how he managed to get through without a boarding pass. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, it became a requirement to have a ticket when passing through security.
A TSA spokesperson says Booker was trying to board a Southwest Airlines flight, but it’s not immediately clear where he was trying to go or where in the airport he was finally caught.
The boy is back in his mother’s custody. A Tacoma Police spokesperson says his mother reported him missing at 3 a.m.
The TSA says it believes checks and balances are place to make the airport secure, but it will be reviewing security protocol.
In January 2007, then 9-year-old Semaj Booker got through airport security, boarded another Southwest Airlines flight by passing himself off as a 12-year-old whose mother was waiting for him in the boarding area. His information matched a paid ticketless reservation for the flight so agents gave him a boarding pass.
The boy’s mother said then he disliked the Lakewood neighborhood where the family lived and wanted to be with his grandfather in Dallas.
Before his odyssey last year, Booker was arrested after leading police on chase on Highway 512 at speeds up to 90 mph, finally ending in a crash. Once he was released back to his family, he ran away for his cross-country trip until his capture in Texas.
He was charged with car theft, attempting to elude a pursing police vehicle and driving without a license.
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VANCOUVER, WA – A Burien man was arrested today in Vancouver, accused of robbing four students and attempting to rob others while driving a stolen car.
Ari Watson, 21, of Burien, was booked into jail on two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of second-degree burglary, police said. Watson was a passenger in a car driven by William J. Upham, 21, of Federal Way, who is being held on two counts of second-degree robbery, driving under the influence, attempting to elude a police officer, possession of stolen property and a felony warrant for second-degree auto theft in Seattle.
Officers spotted the two in the area of East 18th Street after a Heritage High School student told school officials he was robbed of money near school by two men in a white car, the Vancouver Police Department said.
The driver lost control of the car at Mill Plain Boulevard and Morrison Road, and the suspects fled on foot. The driver was caught after a short chase, and the passenger was found a short distance away by a K9 unit, police said.
After the two were taken into custody, police learned that three middle school students waiting for a bus on East 18th also were robbed, but they did not report it until reaching school, police said.
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SEATTLE – Fifteen people, including two Burien men, were arrested today in local raids against what federal law enforcement officials said was a large cocaine distribution ring.
The two local men were identified as John Gerald House, 38, and Paul Peterson, 38. No further details were given.
The arrests followed a year-long investigation of a family-based group suspected of buying and selling wholesale quantities of crack and cocaine, said a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
Altogether, 15 people were indicted this week, and arrests were made Thursday morning in Seattle, Kent, Burien, Edmonds and Des Moines. Seized in the raids were eight firearms, more than $40,000 cash and a large amount of cocaine, officials said.
Neighbors of houses in Kent and Edmonds were awakened when local police officers and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms served arrests warrants at a home in each city at about 6 a.m.
“A minute to six we heard two loud bangs,” said Gary Chelin, who lives near the Edmonds home. “My wife and I got up, came out and looked at the street and it was lined end to end with minivans and SUVs full of police officers.”
According to records filed in the case, some of the suspects allegedly sold the drugs from their Edmonds residence and also from a business, Extreme Auto Detail, 11027-A 1st Avenue S. in Seattle.
Many of those arrested possessed firearms despite multiple felony convictions, according the officials.
The investigation, lead by the ATF Violent Gang Task Force, used court authorized wiretaps to uncover the group’s drug dealing and illegal weapons sales and possession.
In one recorded phone call, Gary Kilcup, 39, of Edmonds, Washington, discussed how he “coulda whacked that (victim) himself,” after his son was arrested in connection with a shooting, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kilcup, his sister, Nicola Kilcup, 36, of Seattle, and her husband Shawn Vanell Piper, 38, allegedly were key players in the distribution ring.
One of their primary cocaine suppliers Jose A. Morales Victoria, 37, of Des Moines was also arrested. All of the defendants arrested today made their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Seattle today at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
“Drug trafficking and firearms are a deadly mix,” said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Sullivan. “The conversations recorded on the court authorized wire tap make clear the threat posed by those willing to protect their drug network with violence.”
“This operation has shown the diversity of the gang members in our communities. It included almost all ethnicities in the gang culture as well as both genders,” said Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle Field Division, Kelvin N. Crenshaw.
According to records filed in the case, Piper and Nicola Kilcup allegedly sold crack and powder cocaine from their home and the auto detail shop.
Throughout the investigation Piper, Kilcup and others sold cocaine to confidential informants. Many of the sales were captured on audio and video. Some of those arrested today are affiliated with area street gangs.
A grand jury returned a 19-count indictment against the group on Wednesday, charging conspiracy, cocaine distribution, and weapons violations.
Other suspects indicted by the grand jury were
- Cedric Barquet, 37, Seattle
- Tanfred Arnez Russell, 36, Seattle
- John Gerald House, 38, Burien
- Christopher Terrill Scott, 33, Kent
- Lavelle Daniel, 31, Seattle
- Deandre Offord, 31, Seattle
- Paul Peterson, 38, Burien
- Daima Anderson-Ross, Seattle
- Jermaine Satterwhite, 34, Seattle
- Alicia Sykes, 36, Seattle
- Jodie Taylor, 35, Seattle
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