Police reunited a family with their stolen laptop and hard drive containing years of family photographs after officers arrested two men Monday night in a Belltown parking garage.
Shortly before 10:00 pm, Officers Jared Levitt and Aleksandra Margolina were on patrol in Belltown when they spotted two men sitting behind a parked car in a garage in the 2200 block of 2nd Avenue.
Officers contacted the two suspects, discovered they both had warrants for their arrest, and took them into custody.
At the time of the arrest, one of the men was sitting in front of a backpack, which he claimed as his own. During an inventory search of the backpack, officers located several tools commonly used by burglars–a pry bar, wire cutters and a flashlight–inside, as well as a laptop computer, hard drive, charging cords and mouse and a Social Security card bearing someone else’s name.
Officers checked the name on the social security card and found the person had contacted police on March 11th to report their backpack and other items had been stolen in a car prowl. Officers contacted the victim who came down to the precinct and claimed his laptop , hard drive, and other stolen items. The man told officers that the hard drive contained years of “priceless” family pictures and documents.
Police booked the suspects, ages 24 and 29, were booked into the King County Jail for their warrants and Investigation of Possession of Stolen Property.
