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Jonah Spangenthal-Lee


For the last five years, I've covered the always-exciting cops and crime beat at Seattlecrime.com, PubliCola.com, KIRO Television, and The Stranger.

As a reporter, I've stood out in the rain at crime scenes, rode around in patrol cars late into the night, and pored over police reports in order to dig up and tell stories about just what goes on inside the Seattle Police Department, and the streets of our city.

I came to SPD in March 2012 to tell those same stories on the department’s blog, The Blotter, and help push out up-to-the-minute information on breaking news through SPD’s Twitter feed.

My days at SPD are just as long, exciting and fast-paced as they ever were in a newsroom, but now I don't have to sneak past police tape to get to a story.

I'm a born-and-raised Seattle resident with a penchant for messy cooking projects, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars and comic books. My wife and cats are very patient with me.

Detectives Looking for Fake Cop Scamming Elderly Women For Tens of Thousands of Dollars

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SPD Fraud Detectives are looking for a con artist who’s been posing as a cop and ripping off elderly Seattle residents for tens of thousands of dollars. So far, police know the suspect has targeted at least six women, swindling them for more than $75,000. The scam works like this: A man going by “Captain [...]
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Detectives Investigating Break-Ins at Lake City, Greenwood Pot Dispensaries

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SPD detectives are investigating some reefer badness after burglars broke into two marijuana dispensaries in north Seattle in the last 24 hours. The first break-in happened at about 1:45 AM Tuesday morning at a dispensary near NE 86th Ave and Lake City Way. A witness called 911 he heard the dispensary’s burglar alarm ringing and [...]
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Don’t Give Your Credit Card Number to Scammers Posing As City Light Bill Collectors

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Scammers are using a new twist on an old scam to try and trick Seattle City Light customers into giving up their credit card numbers. Don’t fall for it. Over the last week, con artists have called at least fifteen people and business, informed them that their City Light accounts are overdue, and threatened to [...]
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Sometimes Crimes Solve Themselves

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It was just after 2:30 pm when the call came in to 911: A woman had limped into a coffee shop on 3rd Avenue and Washington and said she’d been shot in the leg. Sirens blared as police and firetrucks rushed the scene and shut down traffic on 4th Avenue as police searched for the gunman. No [...]
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The First Rule of Fight Club Is: Don’t Join a Fight Club (UPDATED)

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Seattle police broke up a teenage “fight club” at Golden Gardens over the weekend, proving once again that teenagers just aren’t ready for R-rated movies. Officers working an emphasis patrol in Golden Gardens pulled into the park’s upper parking lot just after midnight and spotted a crowd of about 40 juveniles cheering on a group [...]
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Man Stabbed in Victor Steinbruck Park, Suspect Arrested

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A man in his 30s was seriously wounded in a stabbing in Victor Steinbrueck Park Friday afternoon. Officers arrested the suspect about a half-mile from the scene. The incident unfolded just before 2:30 pm, when police received a report of two men fighting and throwing glass bottles at each other near Western Ave. and Virginia Street. [...]
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SPD Rolling Out Crime Forecasting Program Citywide

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This Sunday, as Seattle police officers start their shifts and file into roll calls at precincts around the city, they’ll be greeted with a map of their precincts. Each map will be speckled with red boxes, forecasting areas where officers might be more likely to catch a burglar breaking into a home, or a prowler [...]
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