Routine litter stop turns into arrest of serial home burglars
Aug 30, 2024, 1:48 PM
A Bellevue Police Department vehicle can be seen on a city street. (Image courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Image courtesy of KIRO 7)
What started as a routine litter citation — after a Bellevue police officer noticed a piece of trash thrown on the ground– turned into the arrest of three individuals responsible for multiple home burglaries that occurred throughout the region this summer.
According to court documents obtained by FOX 13, Davis Bateman Jr., 18, littered while driving. He was confronted by a security guard telling him to pick up the trash and decided to point a gun at the guard.
More from Crime Blotter: Mother of missing girl pushing Tacoma police to investigate possible sighting 25 years later
Bateman Jr. allegedly ran from officers before being caught, according to FOX 13. Investigators were able to track down his residence to an apartment in Renton. Upon entering, police discovered stolen passports, money, jewelry and marriage certificates, all connected to various home burglaries. Two stolen firearms were also found in the apartment within a backpack, a violation of his domestic violence no-contact order — which bars the offender from possessing firearms.
He shared the apartment with two convicted felons: Crystal Moniz, his mother, and Daniel Bateman, his mother’s boyfriend. Evidence inside the apartment linked both Moniz and Bateman to the home burglaries. The pair was spotted on a surveillance camera from a home burglary in Newcastle. Bateman was then able to be identified by police due to matching tattoos.
Police believe their robberies stretched from Newcastle to Bellevue and Kirkland.
Authorities were also able to link Moniz and Bateman to stolen credit cards they tried to use at stores through evidence found in the apartment. Bellevue Police told FOX 13 that when Bateman was taken into custody, he was wearing one of the victim’s watches.
More crime: 2 Seattle shootings; 1 man dead, 2 others injured
Moniz was arrested in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood last week while Daniel Bateman was arrested in Federal Way last Monday. They are each being held on a $75,000 bond. Bateman Jr. pled not guilty to his charges on Thursday.
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.
