UPDATE: We should probably quit being amazed by this kind of thing. It’s a small Capitol Hill and CHS is well read but still, it’s weird to get e-mail from the person you just wrote a news item about. CHS has been contacted by the victim in this crime and, we’re happy to report, he’s not really a victim any more. Take it away, guy who got pickpocketed but helped the cops catch the bad guys:
Hi Justin, that was me, re-http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2010/11/12/man-says-ripped-off-by-pickpockets-on-east-pine
please see today’s police report about catching 2 guys on broadway near Dick’s (one was arrested after trying to flee the scene via public bus!!
XXX + I totally went undercover + helped catch the guys who wanted to extort another $200 for returning my cards.
The picture was taken today from the back of an SPD cruiser as the cops caught the people believed to be involved in the rip-off documented below. The victim turned crime fighter tells us he carries all that cash because he travels a lot and gets sick of the $3 ATM transaction fees. Of the brazen nature of the criminals, he adds, “I’m a 6’5″ guy, at 225#, so these thieves really have some balls.” He also says a third man who was in possession of his credit cards was busted.
Original report: The story of crime in our area lately has been off the street and in the bank and credit card accounts of Capitol Hill but an early Friday morning incident marks the return a more visceral rip off to the neighborhood’s streets. A man told police that he was duped into having his wallet full of cash and credit cards stolen by a thief and his accomplice early this morning near 14th Ave and East Pine.
According to Seattle Police, the victim said he was walking home from a bar around 1:35 AM when he was joined by two men on his walk up Pine. The victim said that he didn’t know the men but they decided to walk with him. At some point, the victim felt one of the men reach to pull the victim’s wallet out of his back pocket. As the victim noticed this, the man ran away with the wallet full of $400 in cash and the victim’s credit cards. The victim told police the second man continued to walk with him until he called police.
The alleged thief and his accomplice were described by the victim as males in their 30s, both wearing blue jackets with hoods and jeans. The victim said he saw the two men walking together again after the robbery but police were unable to locate them when they arrived.
Earlier this week, a pickpocket was also reported in the 1400 block of East Union on Wednesday. We don’t have additional details other than a location near Friday’s robbery. The Wednesday rip-off was reported in the afternoon, however. The incidents are the first street related robberies we’ve seen since late October.
Pickpocket my a*s.
Dude had $400 in cash at 1:35 in the morning walking alone?
He’s either terminally stupid and/or was ripped off during a drug deal and is hiding it by claiming theft.
I’m skeptical as well but what would be the advantage of reporting lost drug money to police?
Legit people do still carry cash, not usually that much but it definitely happens.
Does it really matter what he was carrying the money for?
I think most Capitol residents are carrying cash instead of cards after the latest theft ring. Drug deal or not being pick pocketed is a crime. End of story!
Glad the thieves were caught!
people who travel a lot sometimes carry around a lot of money. this victim may have been planning a trip up to the Cascades or elsewhere this weekend where there aren’t a lot of ATMs
even the title of this story sounds incriminating
I had my card frozen due to the recent fraud issues in the neighborhood and had no choice but to carry around cash all week while waiting for a debit card. Carrying cash around didnt mean I was up to no good, no matter what time of night I was out with it.
“The victim turned crime fighter tells us he carries all that cash because he travels a lot and gets sick of the $3 ATM transaction fees.”
Well that’s a perfectly rational reason for carrying a large amount of cash around.
*eyeroll*
Maybe it’s just me, but carrying $400 around doesn’t seem like any big deal. I routinely have four or five hundred on me, maybe I’m just used to paying for things in cash.
Drug dealer? Please, no drug dealer is going to call the police, let alone hop in the back of a squad car to catch a pick pocket.
He was probably just on his way to Deja Vu.
Is that like saying if you wear tight jeans you are just asking to be raped? WTF? Carry all the cash you want. Someone stealing it from you is still a serious crime no matter who, what, where, when or why!
Every time I read a story about somebody being jumped or whatever and they disclose to the cops that they were carrying a large sum of money people seem to blame them for carrying a large sum of cash on them. There are so many reasons why a person would carry a lot of cash on them and to be honest, it’s none of our damn business! Whether someone has $3 or $300 in their wallet doesn’t make it any less tragic that they got jumped/pickpocketed/crap beaten out of them. REALLY people!!!! All of you self-righteous people can just go fly a kite. A person should be able to carry whatever amount of money on them that they want and not be labeled as a drug dealer or user that had a drug deal go bad!
I usually carry cash. Visa and Mastercard are no friends of mine. I don’t want to share 3% of every transaction them, and I don’t want to provide them with a record of how I spend my money. Cash is convenient. At bars and restaurants, I can just pay and go without waiting for somebody to go run the credit card transaction. In 20 years or so of carrying a wallet, mine was only stolen once, and that was on a very crowded sidewalk filled with tourists. I’m comfortable carrying several hundred dollars in my wallet when I’m not in a similarly high-risk situation.
I never carry cash. When I lived on the hill none of my friends carried cash. However when I moved off the hill, I found that most people carried a few hundred dollars when they are out at the bars. Taxis, emergencies, babysitters, buying rounds for friends- whatever their reason. I still don’t carry cash around but I think people who can afford to spend it, carry it.