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Cleaning up something we reported on last week with some new details including an alleged bank robber fleeing through the streets of Capitol Hill covered in dye and trailing smoke behind him as he left the crime scene.
According to the police report, the attempted hold-up unfolded in near-comic circumstances as the Chase Bank teller slipped an explosive dye pack in with the cash handed to the would-be robber. Witnesses said the robber smelled of alcohol and appeared to be intoxicated. Bank employees said the man told them he had a bomb in his backpack and two guns -- we said near-comic -- and demanded money. "I am going to kill somebody here if I don't get my money!" the man allegedly yelled. According to the report, as the man left the bank with the loot, the pack exploded...  Inside the Volunteer Park water tower Originally uploaded by cleverdame107 An exhibit panel valued at $9,000 has been stolen from the Volunteer Park water tower. Parks employees discovered the theft Tuesday, June 23, according to a Seattle Police Department report. The panel was part of an interpretive exhibit about Seattle's Olmsted parks installed on the walls of the tower's upper level. According to the SPD report, the parks employee said the panel was ripped from the brick wall of the tower sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday night, June 24th. There were no signs of forced entry reported at the scene meaning the thief or thieves likely removed the 3-foot by 4-foot metal panel while it was light out and the park was still busy with people. The tower is open to the public between the hours of 9 AM and 9 PM. The investigating officer attempted to collect fingerprints at the tower but was unsuccessful. You can review the officer's report on the theft below:
Getting back into the swing of things with blotter reporting by digging through the Seattle Police Department media reports filed for Pride weekend. Don't mean to besmirch the celebration. Instead, we should all revel. Thousands of people visited the Hill during Pride and, for the most part, things were calm. Except when they weren't: Guerrilla dance party
Other reports
The driver in Monday night's accident in which a father and two young children were hit in a crosswalk at the intersection of Aloha and 15th Ave E was arrested for drunk driving, a Seattle Police Department spokesperson tells CHS. The driver was questioned at the scene and arrested for DUI, according to Seattle Police Department spokesperson Mark Jamieson. SPD would not provide the name of the suspect. The father and the two boys, aged 1 and 3, who were hit returned home from the hospital with only minor bumps the night of the accident, the family's mother told CHS.
The man arrested by cops for attempting to break into the Century Ballroom was charged Monday with second degree burglary in what court documents describe as a planned effort to steal from the historic Odd Fellows building. According to the court documents, an employee of the Ballroom says he encountered Benjamin Vaagen after he had broken into the building through the third floor balcony. The employee saw Vaagen exiting a room where the Century Ballroom's safe is located and called 911 before following Vaagen out of the building. When cops caught up with Vaagen on the basketball courts in Cal Anderson Park, they say they found four keys on the suspect -- one of them a master with access to all parts of the building. The building's owner, developer Craig Swanson, told police he had noticed missing keys on Tuesday, June 23 and had several locks in the building replaced.
Video from cameras inside Century Ballroom showed Vaagen using the keys to access rooms inside the business. Century... A woman was robbed at gunpoint near Volunteer Park this afternoon by a suspect described as a black teenager wearing a white shirt, dark pants, and carrying a purple shirt. The Central District News first reported the crime in their daily scanner report at 3:21 PM. The woman was injured in the attack but her condition is unknown at this time. UPDATE: The 28-year-old woman was treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries suffered in the attack, according to Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen. UPDATE:
Central District News delivers the goods from this month's East Precinct community crime prevention meeting:
The bank is on Broadway just south of Pike under the Harvard QFC escalator was formally a Washington Mutual outlet. We'll make a few calls in the a.m. to see what else we can dig up on Captain Paul McDonagh's handiwork. UPDATE 9:50 AM: ORIGINAL POST:
Street-level businesses on that block include Molly Moon's Ice Cream and the Seattle Running Company. It is also less than three blocks...
The driver of a stolen 2005 Mini Cooper lost control and slammed the car into a stop sign before bringing the vehicle to rest just short of a large tree at 18th and Galer tonight around 10 PM. The intersection is midway down Galer's slope, directly in front of Stevens Elementary. It's not clear how many people were in the car at the time of the accident but eyewitnesses at the scene reported as many as four occupants some of whom may have fled the scene. One person also said that one of the riders pulled out a gun when he exited the vehicle sending neighbors rushing back inside their homes for safety. --------------------- UPDATE 9:50 AM: Received this e-mail about a Wednesday night mugging from a Hill neighbor who forwarded it from a neighborhood safety group she is part of. For context, robbery on the Hill is down so far this year according to Seattle Police Department statistics, but we're seeing plenty of reports like these, often targeting electronics like iPhones.
The documents lay out more of the observations by Seattle Police and the undercover detective who infiltrated Rick Wilson's circle. While these documents connect Wilson's activities to several people and businesses in the city, it's important to note the affidavit tells only the authorities' side of the story. One of the odder connections surrounds the early driver for SPD investigating late-night speakeasies in the first place:
The story around the Pike speakeasy and the government's drug allegations against the man who ran it and the people he became entangled with is fleshed out in this week's Stranger - House of Cards: A Speakeasy, a Drug Bust, and One Cunning Undercover Cop. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee puts his crime reporting experience to full effect building on the details of the document prosecutors presented in charging Richard W. Wilson, Marshall Reinsch and three Honduran men, Carlos Zavala-Bustillo, Cesar Canterero-Arteaga and Edwan Fletes, with breaking federal drug and weapon laws. There is some new information in the article -- Wilson and Reinsch are currently out of jail but under GPS monitoring, for one -- and a lot of color about what was driving Wilson and just how 'cunning' the undercover detective was who had infiltrated his circle:
Earlier this month, we reported on crime statistics for Capitol Hill for the first four months of 2009 -- turns out, the bad economy has us all stealing from one another as theft was up more than 50% compared to the same period in 2008. We also noted that statistics when it comes to extremely serious crimes like murder and rape in a smaller area like Capitol Hill don't tell the story. So we promised to follow up and report separately on the most serious crimes. Today, we'll look at details of Capitol Hill's 2009 two homicides and compare to the deaths in the first months of 2008. CHS hopes to follow up with additional information on the rapes that have occurred but it's a big task -- as the crimes weren't reported on at the time they occurred, we need to dig through Seattle Police Department media reports by hand or file an information request -- both aren't fast solutions. 2009 Capitol Hill Homicides - January -- March: 2
Meany Middle School's final graduation ceremony before it faces budget-related closure was disrupted when two girls attacked an off-duty officer working at the school, according to a Seattle Police Department report. The disturbance broke out when off-duty officers providing security at the school's event attempted to remove a 16-year-old girl who had been barred from campus. A disturbance broke out and, the Seattle Times reports, the ceremony was delayed for 30 minutes while the arrests were made. Seattle school officials made the decision to shutter Meany as part of city-wide program cuts. You can read more about the Meany closure in this month's Madison Park Times. According to the Seattle PI, Meany had about 3x the average student suspension rate than other Seattle schools -- about 24%. Below is the entire SPD report on the incident:
Wait who's that smoking the pipe Another question do ya'all like breasts? Take a seat So you know I'll be there again Come on in Here's a few drink tickets Another of the characters in the Pike speakeasy saga has emerged via our CHS comments. Can's say whether the poster is truly KingDRO or not but the comment did point us to a song -- Speak Eazy -- (lyrics above) by the Seattle hip hop artist about a dude named Rick and the afterhours club he runs.
KingDRO is rapping about Rick Wilson's Cafe (Un)American which closed to be down in October, 2007 but it gives you a flavor for the (dramaticized, I'm sure) scene. BTW, if you hunt around KingDRO's MySpace page, you'll find a link to his friend Rick's MySpace page. He last logged in on 6/8/09. CHS received a phone call today from a man who claims to have been a frequent patron of The Yard, the speakeasy and card room raided by SWAT and FBI officers early Thursday morning. Like the man who claimed to be a former employee of the casino, the caller also would only speak to CHS if he could remain anonymous so, as zeebleoop reminds, take his words with a grain of salt. Unlike the former employee, today's caller, the gambler, provided us with a phone number to reach Richard W. Wilson, or, as people call him, Rick. CHS reached Rick's voicemail. This is Rick. Here comes the beep. BEEP. Rick Wilson is the man federal prosecutors say operated the speakeasy and was entangled in a drug distribution scheme involving thousands of dollars worth of cocaine and meth, guns, Honduran drug dealers, and a tricked out Honda Acura with a secret compartment for smuggling. The gambler told CHS that he doesn't believe Rick is tangled up in something the scale of what is alleged in the charges presented in U.S. District... Attached to this post is a PDF file of the 'probable cause' document federal prosecutors filed in U.S. District Court against five men they say were involved in a gambling, cocaine and methamphetamine distribution operation with an outlet and speakeasy on Capitol Hill at E. Pike and 11th. Richard W. Wilson, Marshall Reinsch and three Honduran men, Carlos Zavala-Bustillo, Cesar Canterero-Arteaga and Edwan Fletes, face several counts of weapon and drug charges. According to the document, Wilson allegedly operated the speakeasy "The Yard" in the building at 11th and E. Pike. All men were charged with violations of drug laws -- you can read more about Title 21, Section 841 here -- while Wilson faces additional gun charges related to carrying a firearm while involved with drug crimes. 
Seattle Times follows up with a doozy. Federal prosecutors say Pike/Pine had a much bigger problem than a speakeasy: Undercover gambling probe leads to cocaine, meth ring
The Times reports that Richard W. Wilson operated the speakeasy "The Yard" in the building at 11th and E. Pike. Wilson was charged in U.S. District Court along with associate Marshall Reinsch and three Honduran men: Carlos Zavala-Bustillo, Cesar Canterero-Arteaga and Edwan Fletes. Odd note from the King County Jail registry: Wilson's 'transfer of custody' listing shows his name as Richard Wayne Jones. UPDATE - 11:56 PM: ORIGINAL REPORT: The employee, who asked to remain anonymous citing fears that he will be connected to the activities and arrested, said he worked at the business in various capacities including occasionally manning the door and the sliding window where late night gamblers presented the password required to gain entrance to the place everybody called 'the speakeasy.' While he wouldn't identify the owner, the employee said the speakeasy was operated by a man who left 'a pretty good job' to run the card room and that customers included a 'high profile DJ' who was also among the people detained by police last night. The employee said he no longer worked for the business but still frequented the establishment and had been hanging out there only a night before the big bust. UPDATE - 3:25 PM
But I will modify my headline from 'illegal card room' to straight-up 'card room.' Meanwhile, it appears that the case might stretch across the city into other neighborhoods. There was a similar bust last night in West Seattle that the Seattle Police Department is remaining equally mum about citing an 'ongoing investigation.' 
UPDATE - 1:27 PM: Not a lot of new information though the Slog has now caught wind of the story and added some unattributed information about a resident of the building being 'involved' in running a 'card room' in the past. Oh and they also have the time of the bust wrong. But we can't talk given we reversed the number of women vs. men busted in the original post. More info about the building. It's owned and managed by Capitol Hill developer Anne Michelson. She is also developing the 1111 E. Pike project up the street. Businesses in the location include the Wild Rose, Houthouse Spa & Sauna and the apartment units above. UPDATE - 8:57 AM: CHS spoke with SPD's head of media relations Sgt. Sean Whitcomb who said he could not clarify the nature of the search warrant or the arrests as the situation is part of an "ongoing investigation" and detectives are still processing evidence collected during the raid. If we don't learn more in the meantime, some light will be revealed when the affidavit required for the department to get the search warrant comes through the county court system in the next few days. Original Report - 8:37 AM: Seattle Times seems to be hot on the tracks of vice squad raids as they happen these days. They've got the scoop on a big bust that went down on Pike last night:... A testy evening on the streets of Pike/Pine last night was marked by gunfire as an unidentified man fired several rounds in the air during a scuffle with security from a nearby club. According to a Seattle Police Department report, several fights broke out in the 1400 block of 10th Ave near Neumo's and Moe Bar around 2 AM as bars and clubs cleared out. Security from a nearby business (the report doesn't indicate which) intervened and reportedly attempted to break up the fight. A man then fired several shots into the air before fleeing in a vehicle southbound on 10th Ave. The report describes the suspect as an Asian male. No victims and no property damage were located. UPDATE:
Today we have the breakout numbers for only Capitol Hill -- and the numbers aren't good: Total crime on Capitol Hill is up 18% in the first four months of 2009 vs. the same period in 2008. The good news is thieves aren't as likely to steal your car this year but the bad news is they are way more likely to bust in and take your iPod. To the left, I've labeled the theft trends so far in 2009 in the four East Precinct beats that cover Capitol Hill. There's a lot of thievery going on in I-5 Shores and Pike/Pine. Theft, by the way, is basically stealing something without entering a premise (burglary) or using force and violence (robbery). Here are the totals for other major crime categories by Capitol Hill beat -- there's a larger East Precinct beat map at the bottom of this post to help you get your bearings.
Given some of the small samples, some totals fall within the margin of error so the trends are not significant. The overall 18% increase involves a large enough sample to discount chance, however. I've marked category totals in grey that are not statistically significant. The section in blue for the individual beat totals should also be taken with a grain of salt -- some of the categories have large enough samples to make significant takeaways but the most important numbers are the Capitol Hill totals. The table above does not include homicide or rape as the percentage changes are not useful given the very low number of incidents. The incidents, however, are extremely important so they should not be ignored. Totals thus far: Homicide Rape 2009 2 3 2008 2 2 I've also made a table of raw change for the categories so you can see what kinds of numbers we're talking about:
The Seattle Police Department has released crime data for Capitol Hill's East Precinct for the first third of 2009 -- the bottom line: Crime of most types is up significantly so far this year, driven by surges in theft and robbery. Through April, the precinct has seen a 14% increase in robberies and a whopping 21% leap in larceny/theft incidents. The East Precinct spans Capitol Hill and the Central District areas.
The bar chart below provided by SPD illustrates how the totals are playing out for total crime in the area. The blue bars represent monthly total crime totals for 2008, orange, totals for 2009.
Interesting news over at our brother neighborhood news site, Central District News: The county prosecutors are launching a new program to target the area's most prolific burglars:
Citywide, burglaries were up 10% in 2008 vs. 2007 according to just-released numbers from SPD (that apparently Seattle PI gets first dibs at, those lucky fellows). Today is going to be a crime heavy day on CHS. We'll have information on the city's 2008 crime numbers for East Precinct and a long-overdue round-up of late May police blotter reports. This note (from a 19th Avenue Lofts resident, at 1812 - 19th Avenue) came my way via a friend:
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