Earlier this month Kirkland suffered a string of vehicle prowls, most of which were reported within a 24-hour period near the North Rose Hill Neighborhood.
Between Nov. 1-6, there were a total of 37 vehicle prowls, 23 of which were reported between Nov. 2-3. On Nov. 2, there were 15 reported vehicle prowls, according to the Kirkland Police Department. Another eight vehicle prowls were reported on Nov. 3.
The police incident reports state that the crimes occurred between the late evening of Nov. 1 and were discovered by the car owners the following morning on Nov. 2.
More than five of the prowls occurred at a single condominium located 12000 block of NE 97th St. According to the police reports, all five vehicles had their windows smashed. Vehicles in Kingsgate and Forbes Creek were also prowled.
Although a 19-year-old Auburn man was arrested on Nov. 3 for an outstanding felony warrant for residential burglary, as well as an outstanding misdemeanor warrant out of Auburn for vehicle prowling was found with vehicle prowling tools on his person, it is not known if he is responsible for any of the vehicle prowls, according to Kirkland Police Spokesperson Lt. Mike Murray.
The suspect did not confess to any of the prowls and the police do not have any evidence connecting him to the crimes.
While fingerprints have been recovered from several crime scenes, Murray said it is not clear if there is any one group or individual behind the prowls, and most likely it is different people due to the manner in which the vehicles were prowled. Some vehicles were unlocked when the contents were stolen, while others had their windows broken before entry.
Murray attributed the rise in prowls to the time of the year, as people are already doing their Christmas shopping, though last week the number of vehicle prowls fell to only six, according to the Kirkland Police Blotter.
Murray also said people leave their wallets, checkbooks, laptops, tablets and other valuable items visible from outside the vehicle, which makes them especially susceptible to prowls.
Recently King County Sheriff’s deputies arrested two suspects believed to be behind a rash of car prowls and identity-theft cases going back at least to July of this year. The arrests took place Oct. 30, however, two days before the vehicle prowls in Kirkland happened. The suspects would break into cars, take valuables to resell, use ATMs to withdraw cash and also quickly buy gift cards until the victims bank accounts were emptied. Detectives with the King County Sheriff’s Office and Sammamish detectives have linked these suspects to what will probably be over 30 cases. Some of these car prowls occurred in the city of Seattle, and many of the identity thefts happened in Redmond, Mercer Island and other jurisdictions throughout King County, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office.
