SeaTac Police / King County Sheriff’s Office are seeking the public’s help regarding an Acura that was recently stolen in SeaTac, then stripped and dumped:
Our cars are more than transportation. Each mile becomes a memory in a rolling scrapbook. From first drives to second dates, our cars are silent partners in the milestones of our lives. This is why auto theft, for the King County Sheriff’s Office, is more than a property crime.
On January 23rd, 2021, this Acura was stolen from a SeaTac driveway. Only three days later, it had been stripped of a bumper, gauges, brake lights and much more. It was ultimately ‘dumped’ in SE King County by an unidentified 30-year old man. He left in a black Civic that many will suspect, like this Acura, was stolen.
The responding King County deputy did a thorough investigation and recovered a latent finger print. Technicians with AFIS, King County’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System, will use this print and their skills to hopefully name this unidentified suspect.
Theft of a motor vehicle – RCW 9A.56.065 was written in 2007. At that time, one car was reported stolen every 11 minutes and 138 cars were stolen every day. It is obviously at a much higher rate today.
For that reason, this law needs to be re-written to reflect the current status on vehicle thefts. Currently, this is a class B felony. The fines and punishment do not reflect the seriousness of this crime. We need effective prosecution and adequate funding to widen the scope of RCW 9A.56.065.
Such funding could go toward using “BAIT CARS”. It worked before and could work again IF WE HAD EFFECTIVE PROSECUTION with enhanced punishment / fines and mandatory jail time.