Ripped-off Capitol Hill kid uses 'app' to help East Precinct track down burglar

With burglaries on Capitol Hill slowing to an icy trickle -- only five reported break-ins in past seven days -- here's a tale of a successful bust made in the East Precinct thanks to some handy computer work after a 12th Ave E break-in over the weekend. Details were provided by East Precinct commander Jim Dermody. And, nope, he doesn't tend to send these our way when detectives can't track somebody down. Dermody said the alleged burglar is a "convicted felon for residential burglary, admitted heroin addict who has also been arrested for crack cocaine possession and theft in the central business district in the downtown core." Nice work, kid.

Sometime during the night of January 13th-14th, an unknown person entered a family’s private residence in the East Precinct. The family, with school aged children, noticed numerous electronic items stolen when they awoke this morning but that forced entry had not been made into their home.

East Precinct officers were dispatched and quickly learned that one electronic device that had been stolen had GPS tracking software. After one of the children loaded the necessary tracking “App” on a laptop that had not been stolen, the investigating officer learned the item was located in downtown Seattle. West Precinct officers were dispatched into the area of 1st/Pike to 3rd/Pine. With the additional information from the crime scene that a large brown rolling duffle bag had also been stolen, one of the officers entered the McDonalds at 3rd/Pine. The officer and an adult male seated at a table with a brown duffle bag at his feet looked at each other. The adult male immediately stood up, took possession of the rolling duffle, and left the restaurant. Officers stopped him in the Metro bus tunnel near 4th/Pine. After the adult male’s expected denials, the father at the victim house called his stolen cell phone, which could be heard ringing from the adult male’s pocket. The male, now a suspect in, at minimum, possession of stolen property (a felony) admitted to having purchased the phone and the bag’s contents for $100 from someone on the street. The father was transported to the scene and identified numerous items of his family’s property as well as noting the person who had them in his possession did not have his permission. The suspect was placed into custody without incident. An East Precinct Evidence Technician responded to the victim’s home to process it for additional evidence.