Police busting large crime ring across Puget Sound

Every morning, Seattle’s Morning News scans the Seattle Police Department’s crime map. Car prowls are consistently high.

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And it’s not just a problem in Seattle, but in surrounding cities, such as Bellevue, as well. Marcia Harnden, captain with the Bellevue Police Department, will readily acknowledge that.

“The number one crime in the Seattle area is car prowl,” she said. “It’s really easy money for these people. They brag about it on social media.”

They brag about ripping you off.

But Bellevue police may have put a dent in it Tuesday. KIRO Radio’s Andrew Lanier witnessed firsthand the bust of a massive car prowl and identity theft ring with upwards of 50 suspects, who are now being rounded up.

If you’ve had your car broken into at a park in Seattle or on the Eastside, you might have been the victim of this group.

According to Harnden, the group targets places such as parks and other places with trail systems where car owners will be gone for longer periods of time. The suspected thieves break in, take cards, and then buy prepaid cards which they then transfer into cash.

The crooks are often looking for items such as purses.

At least 146 car prowls have been linked to the group in Bellevue, Seattle, Sammamish, Mercer Island, Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, and Port Orchard.

Bellevue Police, working with other Eastside police agencies, noticed a trend in crime data and began investigating.

You may recall the incident in January, when Moises Radcliffe, the son of a Seattle officer, was killed by a car prowler at Beaver Lake Park in Sammamish. The aforementioned group has been linked to the deadly encounter. And in tribute to his memory, this investigation was given the code name “Operation Radcliffe.”

Captain Harnden says the perpetrators in that crime are linked to Seattle gangs whose members they’re rounding up now.

“This is a group that’s associated with the same suspects that killed Radcliffe earlier this year. They are organized. They plan. They do surveillance and they know a very specific target they are going after.”

In Bellevue alone, the thieves got away with more than $100,000 from stolen credit cards and cash. One of the suspects arrested Tuesday told Bellevue police, “Everybody knows to do this. Everybody is out doing it. It’s an easy way to make money.”

And as the case in Sammamish shows, these aren’t just casual crooks, they’re potential killers. Police have recovered firearms during some of the arrests and are currently investigating potential links to shootings.

So far, 12 suspects have been cuffed. But Captain Harnden says it’s already making a difference.

“Our car prowls have dropped significantly in the parks in the last two months which is what the goal is, but we also want to have these people held accountable.”

And she wants to remind everyone — you can help prevent these crimes. Don’t leave your belongings in your vehicle, no matter where you are. The very places you think are the safest are actually the places they target.

So don’t make it easy for them.