The Kent Police Department has created a website showcasing photos of 160 recovered stolen items including electronics, wallets, purses, backpacks, stereos, baby clothes and even a wedding dress; some of which may have been originally swiped in the Burien/South King County area.
According to police, a man and woman who are suspected of breaking into more than 100 cars have been busted. Now, they want to return the stolen items to their rightful owners.
The suspects were apparently caught when they used stolen credit cards at local businesses. Police then followed their trail and recovered the stolen stuff in a storage locker as well as at local pawn shops.
According to the website:
Suspects Mode of Operation:
Type of crime: Vehicle prowls (car break ins)
Method of entry: Break window or force door lock
Types of vehicles: Different types and styles but they favored FORD F-series trucks
Property targeted: luggage, purses, laptop computers, GPS units, assorted tools, backpacks, cameras, MP3 players, I-Pods, cell phones, CD players, car stereos, jewelry, anything of value.
Estimated time range of criminal activity: Past 3-4 months
Focus area of vehicle prowl activity: Kent, Tukwila, Renton, SeaTac, Burien, South Seattle, Unincorporated areas of South King County. Collateral areas that may have been impacted as well are: Des Moines, Federal Way, Auburn, Bellevue.
If you were the victim of a car break-in between Oct. 1, 2009 and Feb. 4, 2010, your stolen items may be in police custody – check this website now and see if you recognize anything; if you do, contact Officer Bateman at (253) 856-5894 or via email: kbateman@ci.kent.wa.us.
The recovered stolen property includes (click on links below to see individual pics):
Is this your Pirate Stuff? The Kent PD might have it...
- Laptops
- Cell phones
- MP3 players
- Car Stereos
- Unusual, miscellaneous stuff like:
Some items have been claimed and returned, but most are still in evidence and awaiting rightful return to their owners – so check out the website here.
B-Town Blogger Diana Arney’s Burien house was burglarized on Monday (Feb. 1st), sometime between 9am and 1pm. Diana lives near Puget Sound Park, and the burglar forced their way into her home via a side door.
We’re posting this story in hopes that it can help alert our Readers to be better prepared for these kinds of crimes, which seem to be on the upswing in this down economy.
Here’s how Diana describes her experience:
Just wanted to give you a heads up about a burglary that occurred at my home this afternoon. The incident occurred sometime between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on the block of SW 126th St. and 2nd Pl. SW, very close to Puget Sound Park. The suspect(s) forcefully entered my home via the side door, splintering the door and frame. They locked my dog in a room of the house and stole an LG 42″ LCD TV, a new Compaq laptop computer and an Xbox 360 with games.
A witness stated that they saw a black, Volkswagen sedan suspiciously driving in front of the house between 8:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. I called the Sheriff’s office and a deputy came out to the house to write up the report. While the deputy was at the house I heard another call from her radio stating that there had been another house burglary in the area, and two teenagers were the primary suspects.
I was told by the sheriff’s deputy that these burglaries are common in the area, especially in the early afternoon when kids get out of school and many people are still at work. One additional note: while the sheriff deputy was quite helpful and thorough, it took her two hours to respond. I understand it wasn’t an emergency, but I’m curious how the response time will be affected once Burien annexes the area.
We had to screw down the side door for the night. We believe the suspects opened the gate in our driveway that leads to the backyard (and side door). I believe then they must have backed their car up in the driveway to the side of my house, and loaded up their car with my stuff. In the last picture, it shows a foot stool in our family room (where the TV was) that is normally located outside near the side door. We have no idea what the burglars were thinking, placing the stool there. The only thing above the stool are the ceiling fans.
Not sure if this is “post-worthy” or not, but it might be a good heads-up for people in the area to read about and be aware of.
Thanks!
Diana Arney
Here are photos taken at the scene of the crime:
The side door to Diana's house was kicked in.
...breaking the deadbolt and damaging the wooden door frame.
Note the boot print in the wood just above the dead bolt.
A 42" LG HDTV once sat here.
And here are some crime prevention tips courtesy the Normandy Park Police Department:
Most burglaries occur on Monday through Friday in the daytime.
The crooks are depending on everyone being at work or school.
Many burglars have confessed upon arrest and reported they knocked on the front door or rang the bell to make sure no one was home. If someone answers the door they tell them they are lost or looking for their lost dog or some other such excuse.
Surprisingly citizens rarely doubt the burglar’s reason for being on their front porch and do not call the police. If a stranger knocks on your front door you do not have to open your door. You should make sure they know you are home and telling them to leave your property from behind a solid door is a great option. Then call us.
Most car prowls occur in hours of darkness where the thief depends on the cover of darkness to hide his criminal behavior. Often our follow up investigations reveal the thieves broke into an unlocked car. There were cars close by that were locked and untouched.
- Lock your doors. It is a simple way to prevent so much crime.
- Install motions lights. They are now very reasonably priced and easy to install. The crooks do not wish to be illuminated during the commission of their crime.
- Alarm systems, dead bolts, motion detector light systems, dogs, peep holes and other such simple crime prevention tools work very well.
- Do not advertise your new purchases or Christmas gifts. A cardboard box from a new 50 inch TV sitting next to the cardboard recycle bin lets everyone driving by know exactly what is in your house.
Never leave your purse or wallet on a counter top or table top that can be seen from the front door. Likewise never leave a purse or wallet on a car seat even if you are “just going to be away one minute.” That is when the opportunistic thief takes your wallet, credit cards and cash.
The King County Sheriff’s Department reports that a 22-year old Burien man was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday morning (Jan. 26th) around 1am while walking near Chelsea Park when two men approached him, brandished a gun to his chest and stole his cell phone.
According to Sgt. John Urquhart, both suspects then ran away, but were chased by the victim. When they saw this the suspects popped off a few shots at him, which generated several “shots fired” calls to 911.
The victim didn’t give up though – police say that he caught up with the two men in Chelsea Park (at SW 136th and 8th Ave SW) and starting fighting with the unarmed one. But the one with the gun pistol-whipped the victim on the back of the head. The fight ended when both fighters got tired and the two suspects “ran’ off again.
One deputy looking for the ‘shots fired” call found the victim staggering down the street with head lacerations. A K-9 unit tracked one of the suspects to the park nearby, and also found the gun that was used hidden under a garbage can along with the stolen cell phone.
The victim, a Burien man, was treated and released.
The captured suspect, a Seattle man, age 19, was taken to the hospital and stitched up before being booked in jail for investigation of Robbery.
The second suspect was not located.
by Recently the B-Town Blog’s business model was soundly endorsed by Seattle’s KOMO/Fisher Broadcasting, when they launched numerous “local blogs” of their own.
We, along with other community news providers (read what fellow local blog CapitolHillSeattle.com had to say about their experience with them here, or what CentralDistrictNews.com said here) enjoyed for a while KOMO’s attempts at “local journalism,” which ofentimes has consisted of the apparent copying of our stories (we know this because their IP addresses are traceable, we know they subscribe to our RSS feed, and we’ve read their nearly-identical stories, many of which were posted shortly after we posted ours) and even possibly using our graphics, then posting Burien-related news as “their own.”
But we’re not all that upset about our stories getting copied (nobody “owns” the news) – this happens all the time online, and heck, we’ve even gotten leads from other sources ourselves. All we request is simple attribution and a link, which we try to give every time we use an external news source. It’s just common courtesy, and is actually good for both parties.
No, what takes the cake regarding KOMO happened Tuesday, Sept. 15th, when we received the following email from a “Derek Smathers“:
Name: Derek Smathers
Email: kcjn101@yahoo.com
Subject: The look at B-town is b-rate!
Message: Geez-Reading your blog is like reading the yellow pages. Could you put a few more ads in there? At least all I have to do is move on, no finding it clogging my porch or having to lug it to the recycle bin.
News I need. Junk ads I don’t!
IP: 208.73.29.10
HOST: mail2.fsci.com
Seems Derek forgot one little thing – when you email a website, your IP address is recorded. A simple IP Address lookup of 208.73.29.10 revealed that good ol’ Derek actually sent this directly from within Fisher Broadcasting:
Now we won’t get into any kind of flame war with Derek, since it clearly wouldn’t be fair, but we would like to point out one thing to KOMO, as well as our Readers and Advertisers:
WE DON’T CONSIDER OUR ADVERTISERS AS “JUNK ADS”!
I’m sure that many of our Advertisers are already very familiar with KOMO’s practices – since KOMO apparently posted numerous placeholder/make-believe ads WITHOUT EVEN ASKING THE BUSINESSES USED IN THE ADS, then called them to “sell” them the very placeholder ad(s) they had already posted – not to mention calling BTB Advertisers directly and asking them to cancel their accounts with us and go with them.
Now comes this ill-advised email from within Fisher/KOMO, telling us that our website is full of “junk ads,” which insults the very businesses they want to do business with!
Does this Escher-esque irony crack anyone else up as much as it does me?
Detectives from the King County Sheriff’s Department are turning to the public in the hopes of identifying this pair of likely mail thieves who used a stolen debit card in several area cities:
This photo was taken in early June of the suspects using the stolen card in Puyallup.
The two suspects “hit the motherlode” when they stole mail which included a brand new debit card and PIN.
The stolen card was subsequently used in Federal Way, Tacoma, Tukwila, and Puyallup.
The fraud was discovered recently when unknown charges popped up on the victim’s new debit card account. The bank had supposedly mailed the card and PIN in separate envelopes, but both appeared to have been stolen from the mail.
The victim is a resident of SeaTac, and the loss is several thousand dollars.
If anyone recognizes the suspects they are asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office at (206) 296-3311 (24 hours) or 9-1-1.
From BTB Reader Ian Gunsul comes this shocking news about a recent theft in the 15700 block of 23rd Ave SW in Burien:
Subject: Jack snatched!!!
Message: Or “Pumpkinhead” as Shawn Underwood dubbed him: Jack has resided in front of our house off and on for a couple of years, becoming a neighborhood celebrity while waving a friendly hello to all passers by.
This year someone of obvious Gaelic bloodlines dressed him up for St. Paddy’s day, so we dressed him up for Easter – some nice person even came by and put bunny ears on him.
But alas, someone(s) couldn’t resist temptation and kidnapped Jack and his giant pinwheel sometime between late yesterday evening and lunch time today.
If you have him, bring him back no questions asked.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, leave it in the comments section.
We got to get Jack back!
Seen “Jack” (or “Pumpkinhead”)? Leave a Comment below…
UPDATE 3/24/09: Tuesday afternoon in Tukwila, King County Sheriff’s detectives arrested the man they believe stole a car with two young children in it.
Here’s their release:
The suspect who Sheriff’s Office detectives believe stole a car with two toddlers strapped in the back seat was arrested this afternoon shortly before 2:30 PM. The arrest occurred at an apartment in Tukwila. The arrest was uneventful.
The kidnapping incident occurred last night (Monday March 23rd) about 7:00 PM in the Top Hat neighborhood of Burien.
Detectives believe the suspect was loitering at the Oasis 76 Station, 11249 – 1st Ave South last evening. A man went into the station to buy cigarettes, but left his 2005 Jeep Cherokee outside with the doors unlocked and the engine running, just outside of the entrance doors.
The man’s 1½ year-old daughter and 3 year-old niece were inside the vehicle. The father/uncle saw the suspect get into the car and start to drive away. He ran to the car and pulled open the driver’s door, yelling “My kids, my kids”, but the suspect pushed him out of the doorway and drove off. The dad gave chase on foot but to no avail. He returned to the store and called 9-1-1.
As Sheriff’s deputies were taking the report and notifying adjacent police agencies, the Jeep Cherokee pulled into the Albertson’s parking lot, 15840 – 1st Avenue South, at a high rate of speed and honking the horn. The driver was yelling out the window “help me…help me” and when a patron approached the car he handed off both kids and took off quickly.
Suspecting something might be amiss, the customers called 9-1-1 and the connection was made. Families were reunited shortly thereafter.
An alert Sheriff’s sergeant located the stolen vehicle about 11:30 PM in a Tukwila parking lot.
The suspect arrested today is a convicted felon and on Active Supervision with the Dept. of Corrections. He was released from King County Jail on March 18th after an arrest on an Obstruction charge.
The suspect will be booked into the King County Jail later today for Investigation of Kidnapping and Investigation of Theft.
PREVIOUSLY: The Seattle Times is reporting that a Jeep was stolen Monday night in White Center, with two very young children still inside. The kids were later dropped off by the thief at the Burien Albertson’s on First Ave near SW 160th.
According to the Times, someone left their kids in their idling Jeep near South 112th Street and First Avenue South in White Center just before 7pm, and a thief jumped in and drove off.
He then dropped the two girls at the Albertson’s three miles south in Burien, telling a witness that it was “an emergency.”
Police later found the Jeep at about 11:30pm, abandoned in Tukwila.
Read the full story here.
And if you’re a parent who drives your kids around, please don’t leave your children unattended in a car, whether it’s running or not!
“If you take your keys, take your kids!”
According to charges filed in King County Superior Court, Hilary Jane Pinter, PTA Treasurer for Burien’s Seahurst Elementary School, stole nearly $28,000 from the PTA account.
Pinter, 34, was charged with four counts of first-degree theft.
Apparently Pinter had been embezzling funds from the account by writing checks to herself, then recording them as bill payments. This happened between September 2006 and April 2008.
The theft was reported to the King County’s Sheriff’s office after an internal audit revealed the irregularities. Investigators were told that Pinter had called or e-mailed them, admitted the theft and asked for forgiveness.
According to documents, Pinter also gave a $15,000 check to a PTA member on the condition that if they cashed the check she would not be prosecuted.
According to KOMO News, the King County Sheriffs Office is seeking an elderly, grandfatherly vending machine robber (pictured above) who has been stealing from Coca Cola machines in SeaTac.
Authorities say that since last June, the “Coin-Op Robbing Grandpop” has stolen several thousand dollars from various machines at the Doubletree Hotel, located at 18740 International Blvd.
Apparently the suspect is so adept at breaking into the machines that he’s able to do so without damaging them; he then takes the cash from the inner coin box and the only way the robbery is discovered is when technicians open the machine (EDITOR’S NOTE: Perhaps he has experience with these machines?).
Police describe him as 60 to 70 years old, with glasses and dressed in a nice shirt, tie and overcoat – your typical Grandpa-type, only the kind who always has lots of coins in his pockets (“Hey Gramps, can we go to the Family Fun Center again?”).
The photo above was taken by a surveillance camera from one of the machines, so if you recognize him, you are asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office in SeaTac at (206) 973-4900.
6pm 12/30/08 UPDATE: The Seattle Times reports that “an armored-car guard was slightly injured this afternoon when a thief grabbed a bag of money out of his hands and fled” as the result of an armored truck robbery late Tuesday afternoon.
Watch the video report from KOMO News.
PREVIOUSLY: According to KING-TV, an armored truck was robbed in Burien late Tuesday afternoon when a suspect stole a bag of cash from a truck guard at a 7-11 convenience store near First Ave South and South 136th.
Apparently, while there are no reported injuries (not necessarily true, see above) the suspect is still on the loose; according to one Reader’s email, there are helicopters currently hovering over the area as of 5:15pm, possibly searching for him.
If you’re in that area and hear of or see anything, please email us.
Full story here.
The 7-11 in question is located at 13456 First Ave South:
According to the Seattle P-I, numerous items stolen by convicted ex-Burien dentist Dr. Richard Calvo, his wife and father are now being returned to their original owners.
The story mentions some of the more unique goods that were stolen, including:
- A $500 “Big Bertha” golf driver
- Numerous other expensive golf clubs
- 326 pieces of glass artwork
And of course, these other valuable stolen items:
- An entire family’s reputation
- A successful dentist’s career
- A jail-free future not full of potential violence and misery
We found this interesting piece of news on the Three Tree Point Yahoo Group – on July 9th, a rather bold thief (thieves?) crawled under a truck belonging to resident (and BTB Photog) Ethan Janson and cut out the catalytic convertor:
Today, someone took a hack saw to the undercarriage of my Toyota Tacoma at the Burien Transit Center.
My truck is LOUD as hell now because I am now missing a large chunk of pipe leading to my muffler, and probably the catalytic converter… and I thought riding the bus was a cheaper option, geez.
From what I can tell, the converters have precious metals which can be scrapped for $$$.
- Ethan Janson
The next day (July 10th), Ethan wrote this followup:
Apparently, stolen catalytic converters are reaching epidemic proportions.
I just heard a good tip…etch your contact info into the converter so that the thieves have a harder time scrapping it.
I recommend avoiding the Park and Ride if you have a high clearance vehicle with easy access to the undercarriage.
Now, just six to eight more months of riding the bus so I can break even.
Anyone else out there in B-Town have similar experiences?
Email us or post a Comment below…
BURIEN – There’s a bank robber on the loose who’s wanted in two B-Town robberies in May and June.
Have you seen this man? Do you recognize him?
If you know or recognize him, you are asked to call the FBI immediately at (206) 622-0460.
Police say the suspect robbed the US Bank located at 14641 First Avenue on May 17, as well as the Key Bank at 655 Southwest 152 Street on June 7.
The Seattle division of the FBI said the man used a demand note in both cases and did not show or imply that he had a weapon.
SOURCE:
Police are searching for a bank robber they call the “Candyman” bandit, because he has been seen eating a lollipop and chewing gum during his robberies, one of which was in Burien, according to the FBI.
The bandit is believed to be responsible for at least four bank robberies in the past two weeks in the Seattle area, including one as recent as Tuesday morning, and another one on May 17th in Burien.
Police said in each robbery, the man presented a handwritten note to a teller demanding money, all while eating candy.
A weapon has never been displayed, although the bandit implied he had one in the first robbery.
The man is described as a black male, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, medium build, medium complexion, bald head, and police said until Tuesday’s robbery, a mustache.
Here are two still images taken from a security cam:
The FBI believes he is responsible for the following bank robberies:
- 5:30 p.m. on May 14, 2008, at the Wells Fargo Bank at 1763 4th Ave. S. in Seattle
- 9:50 a.m. on May 17, 2008, at the US Bank at 14641 1st Ave. S. in Burien
- 9:34 on May 19, 2008, at the Qualstar Credit Union at 1731 4th Ave. S. in Seattle
- 9:30 a.m. on May 27, 2008, at the Rainier Pacific Bank at 35007 Enchanted Pkwy. in Federal Way
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI immediately at (206) 622-0460.
======================================
In the meantime, in the interest of cyber-justice (and comedy), we here at the B-Town Blog are releasing our own special virtual mugshot lineup, in hopes that one of the citizens pictured below will be recognized by one of our intrepid readers and thusly turned in, saving not only our local citizens, but our precious candy supply from dwindling:
And here’s further proof – exclusive video taken from the security cam of the “Candyman”:
BURIEN – Richard Calvo, a Burien dentist, faces up to a year in jail after pleading guilty today along with two others in what police say was a massive theft ring that employed homeless and drug addicts throughout Seattle.
The three family members were accused of paying drug addicts to shoplift glass art, Armani suits and other high-end goods from local stores in Seattle.
They fenced the stolen merchandise at the well-known Liberty Jewelry and Loan pawnshop at 116 Pike Street, according to prosecutors.
Leslie Calvo, 39, who ran the shop owned by her father, pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree trafficking in stolen property, two counts of possession of stolen property and two other theft-related crimes.
She faces between 4 1/2 and nearly six years in prison at the sentencing for all three defendants June 13.
Her 71-year-old father, Martin D. Levy, pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree trafficking in stolen property, two counts of possession of stolen property and one count of second-degree solicitation to commit theft. He faces two to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Calvo’s husband, Richard, 38, who has a Burien dental practice and pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree trafficking and one count of first-degree possession of stolen property, faces up to a year in jail.
Leslie Calvo and her father originally faced charges such as leading organized crime and money laundering, which would have carried stiffer penalties, said her attorney, Allen Ressler.
Prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s Office would only accept the deal if all three pleaded guilty, and Leslie Calvo didn’t want to expose herself or her elderly father to additional prison time, Ressler said.
“She accepted the most responsibility and to some extent what motivates her is the desire to see this whole thing resolved, and the concern about going to trial and losing on the more serious offense,” he said.
The three are accused of selling glass pieces stolen from art galleries, shoplifted Coach purses, a $500 bananawood soap dish and other luxuries from Levy’s pawnshop. They also unloaded more than $300,000 worth of goods on eBay and kept some merchandise for themselves.
Investigators said the three used a group of street drug addicts who were willing to walk into a store or gallery, shoplift the goods and deliver them to the pawnshop — often with the price tags still intact.
The thieves were often given 10 percent of the retail value for each item and used it to support their drug habits, police said.
Police began investigating in March 2004 when they were tipped about a major fencing operation involving the pawnshop. One informant later told police he had been delivering stolen items to the store since 1988.
In July 2005, police searched Levy’s Mercer Island home, his pawnshop, and the Calvos’ West Seattle home and found hundreds of stolen items, including more than 300 glass-art pieces, golf clubs and electronic devices.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: You know in the Google Map below where it says "1 Review"? We happened to follow that link, where we found the following "review":
DANGEROUS DENTIST!!
By Anonymous
Dr. Calvo is in practice w/ his father and sister. Although the rest of the family might be on the up-and-up, he is NOT! I think he is on drugs, one time in his chair was way too many. Face it you are placing your life in his hands and there are enough honest dentists out there. Dr. Calvo is currently facing 32 Felony charges, do your homework and get a reliable dentist! I personally FIRED Dr Calvo and now go to a dentist miles away!]
SOURCE:
Found on seattle-tacoma craigslist > tacoma > rants & raves:
My wife was visiting her dad up in burien at the hospital. She stupidly left her keys in the truck along with a $2000 camara and her cell phone. Please dont post how stupid she is, she doesnt read this and i already KNOW how stupid she was.
Anyway she calls me up and says somebody broke into the truck and stole her keys, camara ect And a bill with our address on it.
Now i was not always the dogooder i am today so i know how these aholes think. I closed up the blinds and went about my business.
About an hour later i was sitting in the office and i see someone come up to the door. Nothing unusuall about that but i wait and see anyway. Sure enough, after i dont answer he pops the key into the door and opens it. I give him a couple of seconds to get in then i spring from my chair and grab him and put my ball point pen up to his neck and tell him dont f*@king move or i am gonna stab you. (this is where i made my mistake. I should have just f*@king stabbed him and been done with it. I urge anybody in the same situation to not threaten but just to do it.
Anyway he wriggled out of my grasp (i only had ahold of his coat) and got away. I am too fat to chase his skinny ass down.
At least i got a cheap costco coat for my trouble. No ID inside just a couple of starbucks giftcards and a key chain with one key. The keychain is a little tiny level.
If you know someone with a black costco coat and a keychain made out of a tiny level let me know. I would like to return them to him
Found on seattle-tacoma craigslist > seattle > rants & raves:
When you stole my wifes 94 dodge 4 door with an empty gas tank and the locking gas cap this morning you thought you were stylin, you could have left the grandchildrens car seats, the car is a piece of sh*t but she cant haul the grandkids around without car seats and i am sure that you had 2 small children with you at 2 am so you needed the seats worse than she does, if i were stealing cars i would be sure to steal 1 with a custom plate licence # HEDAKE so if anybody sees a white 4 door 1994 dodge spirit dent drivers rear door cheap mags plate HEDAKE please email me would like the car seats back
WHITE CENTER – A team of gas thieves is stealing fuel from B-Town area gas stations.
Images of the thieves, who have been helping themselves to hundreds of gallons of gas, have been captured by surveillance cameras (see left) – but the bad guys have still eluded police.
They fill up blue barrels in the back of a pickup truck, often when gas stations are closed.
They struck at one SeaTac Shell station.
“It’s just unbelievable, it really is,” said Lynelle Martin, who works behind the counter.
In the weeks since the story first broke, King County Sheriff’s detectives have developed new leads on the suspects and uncovered more bulk fuel thefts.
They now know of at least four Shell stations in the South Seattle area that have been hit and have lost up to 800 gallons at a time. Some have been targeted more than once.
Shell manager Tom Nguyen says the thieves had a key to open his pump and they expertly switched it on and filled up on $3.80 premium gas. Worse yet, they paid him several visits.
“It’s happened totally four times… over a month or so,” he said.
Sheriff’s detectives believe the man pumping gas seen on surveillance video is known as “D.” Another suspect’s name is “Steve.” They have a photo of a 6-foot Asian man with a frizzy pony tail.
And the truck often used is a red Nissan Titan.
Investigators aren’t sure what the men are doing with the fuel, but customers aren’t surprised that criminals are cashing in on record-high gas prices.
While some people think these guys are sticking it to “big oil,” it’s mostly small business owners who are hurt.
One gas station owner lost $3,000. He says that’s almost a month of gas profits for him.
Sheriff’s detectives are asking anyone with information about these thefts to call 911 or King County detectives at 206-296-3320.
SOURCE:
