Let your mail theft fears rest easier. According to the Seattle Police Department Blotter, detectives have thwarted a prolific North Seattle crime ring that may have been behind many of our recent reports of mail theft, break-ins and other property crimes:
A stolen car, a wanted woman, and her diary detailing “what I stole today” has led SPD’s Major Crimes Task Force to unravel a prolific crime ring, which detectives believe is responsible for hundreds of break-ins, car prowls, thefts and identity fraud in North Seattle.
In all, police arrested four suspects and seized hundreds of pieces of stolen mail, IDs, and boxes of packages, stolen right off of victims’ porches, with one of the suspects telling police that unwrapping stolen packages was “like opening Christmas presents.” …
Detectives found duffel bags filled with stolen mail, more than 70 IDs, credit cards and passports, $37,000 in fraudulent checks, and mail stolen from at least 180 victims. They also found books and ledgers tracking thefts and tallying sales on online sites, as well as pages and pages of victims’ birthdates, social security numbers and credit card numbers. Detectives say the woman had created “profiles,” compiling personal information from pieces of stolen mail.
Like most of the posts on the Blotter, it makes for some juicy reading that includes details about the group that had made crime their full-time job, focusing on the U-District and Green Lake. Read the whole post here.
Despite our recent post that the “North Precinct might just be too short-staffed to respond,” Coordinated Criminal Investigations Captain Eric Sano has high hopes for the neighborhood, saying in the Blotter post: “These arrests should drastically reduce property crimes” in the North Precinct.
Let’s hope he’s right!
Kind of convenient she kept a log of her illegal activities right after the Seattle PD got that leaked memo out.
Comments are working. Seattleite’s are conflicted when the police do a good job. It would have been easier if this band of alleged criminals had been busted by a band of weed smoking (albeit legal) ultimate players. Again, alleged and legal weed smoking. Give me your judgment welcoming Seattle.
Are comments working? Hello?
Thanks to the police for busting this crew.
This is good news. I wish the crime wave in the north end got more attention from the media. We have to listen to sponsored health “news” and 11 minutes of traffic updates, but real, useful information like the vast amount of property crime in our neighborhood doesn’t seem to make the local news or get into the Seattle Times. If people are aware of mail theft, packages being taken off porches, etc., they’re more likely to notice when it’s going on and report it.
Thanks to the Police for the good work.
Names of the perps?