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Alert Citizen Helps Officers Apprehend Car Prowler

A crime victim was reunited with her stolen property thanks to an alert citizen who called 911 and a quick-responding patrol officer.  On November 18th at approximately 6:33 p.m. a witness called 911 to report a male suspect checking car door handles and then enter a white Dodge Charger in a parking lot located on the northeast corner of 5th Avenue South and South Jackson Street.  The suspect was described as a thin built male wearing a hooded sweatshirt, brown jacket and carrying a bag.

A responding officer saw a suspect matching that description carrying a bag and walking southbound from the above location and stopped him on the east side of the street.  The dispatcher advised the officer that the witness was still on the line with 911 and confirmed that the officer was stopping the correct suspect.  The suspect’s bag contained a GPS, a moisture meter, thumb drives and other personal electronics.  The suspect was placed under arrest and transported to the West Precinct. 

The registered owner of the Dodge did not return to the vehicle while the officer was on scene conducting her investigation so the officer left a business card on the victim’s car with contact information and a police incident number.

While at the precinct, the victim (registered owner of the Dodge Charger) called the precinct and notified the officer that several items had been stolen from her car.  The victim clearly identified the stolen items which were the same items recovered by the officer from the suspect’s bag.  The victim then drove to the precinct and positively identified her property, which was subsequently released back to the victim (even the bag that the suspect was carrying the stolen property in was itself stolen from the victim’s vehicle). 

The suspect, a 39-year-old male, was subsequently booked into the King County Jail for the crimes of Vehicle Prowling and Theft.