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King County Sheriff's deputies display guns and ammunition seized in the bust of a South Seattle robbery. (KCSO image)

Thieves busted selling $22,000 of stuff stolen from work on Craigslist

BY Josh Kerns  on February 21, 2013 @ 1:49 pm (Updated: 2:15 pm - 2/21/13 )

If you're going to rip off your company, you probably don't want to try and sell the stuff on Craigslist. That's the lesson two people learned after cops busted them for trying to pawn $22,000 worth of stolen goods on the online classified site.

King County Sheriff's Deputy Charlie Akers says the owner of a company in the unincorporated area of south Seattle discovered Feb. 13 the theft of about $10,000 worth of Bluetooth keyboards from a warehouse. He told detectives there were no signs of forced entry and believed it was an inside job.

After doing a full inventory several days later, the owner discovered $12,000 worth of tripods were also taken. Soon after, he discovered an ad for the stuff on Craigslist. Another employee recognized where the photos in the ad had been taken, and a detective set up an undercover sting.

It didn't take long to catch the suspected thieves. The stolen items were recovered at a house just blocks from the company, along with 17 guns, ammo, outlaw motorcycle gang clothing and memorabilia and robbery kits that included a mask, gloves and large zip-ties made into handcuffs.

Akers says the home belonged to a current and recently fired employee of the company. One was arrested and the other questioned. Charges are expected against both, and the investigation continues.

"There's a TV show America's Dumbest Criminals," Akers says. "There are people who think they're smarter than the system, they think they're smarter than everyone else. So they think they can get away with stuff like this."

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (10)


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  • dadof3 wrote...
    I'm glad they caught them...but, question.
    February 21, 2013 3:34 pm
    Those two guns on the right, bottom. Anyone know what they are?
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  • Howdy wrote...
    They look like
    February 21, 2013 4:17 pm
    single shot .410s
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chrisfrommv wrote...
    so???
    February 21, 2013 5:20 pm
    Were the guns stolen? It says 22k of murchandise; 10k in keyboards and 12k in tripods equalling your 22k. Since no mention of attempting to sell the guns, as would violate the terms and agreements on craigslist, no mention of wether the guns were legally owned or stolen or up for sale I must assume it was placed in as shock value. Until further information I can assume this was the writers attempt to tie a gun scare tactic to a news story that is only really worth a brief mention.
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  • Chrisfrommv wrote...
    Mr. Kerns
    February 21, 2013 5:26 pm
    Would you please eloborate how, besides having guns at their residence, the guns and the picture posted are relevent to the true story? I also like to mention if they were owned legally, these theifs hopefully won't be able to own them in the near future...
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  • Chrisfrommv wrote...
    AOW?
    February 21, 2013 6:15 pm
    so will they also be facing the 10year felony charge for possesion of an AOW (top right)? Since this gun requires a a NFA tax stamp from the BATFE with the foregrip attached.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    This heist had to have been perpetrated
    February 21, 2013 7:27 pm
    By CH or Wrongway or M101 or WSUalumni....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • W900A wrote...
    Biker gang paraphenalia
    February 21, 2013 8:38 pm
    Doesn't matter what laws you make, they won't deter these people. Current proposals only serve to remove/reduce the ability of law abiding citizens to defend themselves from such people. Unless the police live in your house, if these criminals want to do bad stuff there, you are toast unless you can fight back or somehow escape. Not to mention Craigslist doesn't allow firearms to be listed. Sort of misleading in the story to mention the 2 together.
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  • hpitantso wrote...
    This heist had to not have been perpetrated
    February 21, 2013 8:57 pm
    crips or the bloods or DimoRats, Obama Guns like this in those who would buy stolen guns the issue. Can't define group but we can define the evil use or crime. Good set of eyes in this case.
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  • MainEvent wrote...
    So....?
    February 22, 2013 5:56 am
    Electronic equipment was stolen and the picture shows all the guns that have no relevance to this story as stated. What a farce, somebody have an agenda?..........
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hnuh wrote...
    02-22-2013
    February 22, 2013 1:01 pm
    This is another example of leftist bias in media. A bit of deconstructing the scene (photography plus typography)is all that is needed to determine with a fair degree of certainty the bias of the individual who produced the story.
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