Seattle police seized two stolen guns, a ballistic vest, and more than two dozen credit cards and government IDs after arresting a theft suspect in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood last week.
According to the police, at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, a woman in the 700 block of Fifth Avenue North asked for police assistance to get her stolen property back. The woman told police that on the day before, her backpack had been stolen in the University District.
Police said that as the woman was loading her car, she left her backpack containing her credit cards and IDs, laptop, iPad, and other electronics propped up against her car as she went back inside her home. When she returned, her backpack was gone.
The woman checked surveillance footage from her home and saw a suspect drive up and take her backpack before leaving in a black Chevrolet sedan.
After reporting the incident to the police, the woman monitored her stolen electronics using trackers installed on them.
The woman called the police the next day after tracking one of the electronics to a parking garage in Lower Queen Anne. When officers arrived, they found a black Chevrolet sedan that matched the description of the one in the woman’s surveillance footage.
Officers looked inside the car and saw a gun near the driver’s seat.
According to the police, the woman used her cell phone to emit a sound from one of her stolen items, and officers heard it inside the Chevrolet.
As the police continued to investigate, the suspect came down to the garage and was detained and arrested by officers.
Police found some of the woman’s credit cards in his wallet.
After a judge approved a search warrant, officers searched the Chevrolet and found two stolen guns, a ballistic vest, two dozen stolen credit cards and state ID cards, and several passports and social security cards. Officers also found and returned several of the woman’s belongings.
The 37-year-old man was booked into the King County Jail for possession of stolen property, theft, possessing a stolen firearm, and unlawful possession of a firearm because he is a convicted felon.
The suspect refused to provide his name at the time of the arrest, the police said. When he was identified at the jail, officers learned that he also had a Department of Corrections warrant.
Police have learned that some of the credit cards and IDs were reported stolen in car prowls in the Puget Sound region.
The case remains under investigation.