HILLTOP- Big Chop Shop Bust

On Thursday May 31, the Snohomish County Auto Theft Task Force served a search warrant on a house in the 19000 block of Damson Road. This bust recovered stolen vehicles and other property. Four men were taken into custody. According to a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office press release all four will be charged with first degree theft and possession of stolen property. One will also be charged with possession of a controlled substance.

According to a local Neighborhood Watch Coordinator another bust occurred on a house a block away from the May 31 bust. A Sheriff’s official told the coordinator that authorities were working on the case for 1 ½ years.

This illustrates that local law enforcement agencies are working to put away criminals and that it can take a long time to put together a case to forward to the prosecutor.

The Herald:

 http://heraldnet.com/article/20120601/NEWS01/706019907/0/SEARCH

Sheriff’s Office Press Release:

http://sheriff.snoco.org/Press_Release/PR_Doc/2012/May/Lynwood_Chop_Shop_Search.pdf

HILLTOP/FIR RIDGE- Package Theft

On Saturday morning, January 15th, a Neighborhood Watch Coordinator found two empty cardboard boxes on the shoulder in the vicinity of 10th Pl W and 198th Pl SW behind her house. One box had been an UPS delivery, the other, a FedEx. After running the tracking numbers, the coordinator discovered that both packageds had been delivered on Friday, January 14th.

The address on one box was in the vicinity of the 1300 block of 195th ST SW, a Canyon Ridge home. She took the empty box to the recipient. That home owner had been gone for only ½ hour that day from 3 to 3:30 P.M.

The other address was in the 200 block of 195th PL SW, which is a home in a new development. After four delivery tries of that empty box, she never met the owner but met a neighbor who said he actually saw a “little green car” drive up and take the box off the door step on Friday. This clearly was a missed opportunity to let the Sheriff's Office know about suspicious activity.

Note: While Christmas is a major time of the year for theft of delivered packages, this can happen any time of the year. Thieves may follow trucks as they make their deliveries or they may just troll neighborhoods for delivered packages on door steps.

As I noted in my posting for December 18, 2010, some things you can do to prevent becoming a victim include:


• Have a trusted stay at home neighbor hold your package for you until you come home

• When at home keep a watch for suspicious vehicles following UPS, FEDEX or Postal Service trucks. If you see a suspicious vehicle, call 911 and report the license number, vehicle description, and direction of travel.

UPS suggests:

• Have the shipper require a signature on delivery

• Have the package sent to your work where someone will be present to accept it.