Seattle Fire Department investigators in looking into a possible connection between four different fires set near the same University District apartment building since the beginning of the year.

Earlier this week, two cars were set ablaze—one in the 700 block of NE 42nd and one the 4100 block of 11th Ave—causing nearly $30,000 dollars in damage. The first fire, set on 11th, was set at about 12:30am on March 8th. Almost exactly 24 hours later, another car was set on fire on NE 42nd. The blaze also did damage to a nearby duplex.

According to Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick, earlier this year, on January 16th, an arsonist also set fire to a car in the 4100 block of 11th Ave NE, causing $3,000 in damage.

A little over a week later, a dumpster was set alight just across an alley from the previous fire, causing $15,000 in damage.

All the fires were set between midnight and 1:00 am

Fitzpatrick would not say whether investigators believe the four fires are all related, but says...

Seattle police are asking for the public's help in locating the man suspected of gunning down Tyree Eugene Lee Sr. outside of his fiancee's Central District home in 2007.

Seattle Police are seeking the public’s assistance in locating Jymaika S. Hutson, 31. He is described as

 

His future's so bright, he needs shades

6′ and 180 pounds with a deformed left eye. He may also go by the moniker “Tiger 6″ or “Tiger.” He has been charged with first degree murder in an April 2007 homicide in the Central District. He may still be in the Seattle area. Anyone with information regarding Hutson’s location is urged to call either 911 or the Seattle Police Homicide Unit at 206 684-5550. Those wishing to remain anonymous are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or send a text to CRIMES (274637). Your text message should include “TIP486″ to ensure proper routing. If a tip leads to an arrest and the filing of charges, callers may qualify for a cash reward of up to $1000. Calls are taken 24 hours a day.

 

Lee's murder was the first homicide case I ever covered. From my May 2007 story:

Just after 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, witnesses say a white SUV pulled up near Lee's fiancée's home, several blocks from Garfield High School, and the vehicle's occupants got into a confrontation with Lee. The passenger of the SUV stepped out of the car and shot Lee before returning to the vehicle and speeding away. According to the police report, officers arrived and found Lee "lying on the south planting strip of the 2600 block of East Alder" with "gunshots to the chest." Lee was transported to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition, where he died from his injuries.

Several days after the shooting, I went by the house where Lee was killed. I still remember seeing his then-5-year-old son running around in the living room.

I spoke with a friend of Lee's, who told me he believed he was the victim of mistaken identity.

Lee's killers thought he was involved in another shooting in the area and that Lee's murder was retaliatory. Lee had also been involved in an argument with several other people at nearby Barnett Park earlier in the day. According to Lee's friend, a police officer who is "well-known in the area" told Lee's family that "they know who did it," and told them that Lee's killers had celebrated his death with a barbecue at a park in the area.

From the SPD Blotter:

On March 11th, at approximately 4:12 AM, East Precinct officers responded to a call of a stabbing in the 1700 Block of Bellevue Avenue. Officers located a 23 year old male who had been stabbed in his left arm. The Seattle Fire Department was summoned to treat the victim for his wound. A description of the suspect and his female companion was broadcast, based on information from the victim. Officers recalled seeing a suspect matching that description earlier in the morning on Broadway. Officers conducting an area search for the suspect entered a store in the 500 Block of Broadway Ave. East and located the suspect and his friend. The male suspect was positively identified as the one responsible for the stabbing. A weapon was recovered. The victim does not have life-threatening injuries. The 20 year old suspect was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Assault.

When it comes to dealing with felons, Washington has effectively told Arkansas to suck it.

ST:

Last week, the federal agency that oversees the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision (ICAOS) — a 50-state contract governing the state-to-state transfer of felons on probation or parole — issued an opinion that rebuked Washington over Arkansas felons. Washington has rejected at least three "mandatory" transfers from Arkansas since December.

The dispute springs from the Nov. 29 shooting of four Lakewood police officers by Maurice Clemmons, an Arkansas felon under supervision in Washington.

After the shooting, Washington officials accused Arkansas of violating the spirit of the compact in Clemmons' case and demanded changes to the rules that — if in place last year — would have given it authority to send Clemmons back to Little Rock before the shooting.

Remember when I said it isn't a good idea to hang out near Aurora at night? I wasn't kidding.(WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN!!!)

A police report says a man was assaulted and robbed near 85th and Aurora on March 5th simply because he refused to let another man use his cell phone.

Police were called to the Jack in the Box at 85th and Aurora after receiving reports of a man "throwing things around outside of" the restaurant.

At the scene, a man told officers that another man had approached him at about 8:30pm and asked to use his cell phone. When the victim declined the suspect's request, the report says "the suspect then hit him in the face with something black." The suspect then stole twenty dollars out of the victim's hand and fled across 85th.

Police found the suspect a few blocks away at 85th and Fremont, arrested him, and booked him into the King County Jail.

Riddle me this: is there a Jack in the Box out there that isn't a wretched hive of scum and villainy?

The Pi.com has the scoop on a federal raid on a Port Angeles doctor accused of selling sketchy weight-loss drugs:

According to a recently unsealed federal search warrant, investigators with the Food and Drug Administration and the state Department of Health believe the doctor, as yet uncharged, has been importing Chinese-manufactured pharmaceuticals containing a hormone known as HCG.

Referring to himself as a "Weight-Loss Doctor," the licensed naturopathic doctor is alleged to have offered to sell the drugs through a pair of Web sites, according to investigators' statements. Among other assertions, the man claimed injections of HCG -- which is neither approved for the treatment of obesity nor proven effective in the treatment of the affliction -- allowed patients to drop one pound a day.

"Your body will sculpt the fat from the hips, buttocks, thighs, nape of the neck, breast and belly, leaving the healthy fat alone and giving you the body you had as a young adult," the man claimed on his Web site, according...

Aurora Ave N probably isn't the safest place to be wandering around at night. Unfortunately, one man learned that the hard way last week after he was jumped by a group of three men.

According to a police report, the victim told police he was walking to a gas station at 112th and Aurora Ave N at about 10:30 pm on March 3rd.

As the man approached the corner of 112th and Aurora, the report says "a group of three males jumped out of the bushes and assaulted him."

The group of men kicked the victim in the knee, knocking him to the ground.

The man got up and hobbled down the street, eventually stopping at a motel, where he asked a manager to call 911.

The man told police he did not know the suspects and "said he had no idea why he was assaulted."

Police asked the man if he thought the woman he was going to meet had anything to do with the assault. He said he was "unsure."

In review: the next time someone asks you to meet them on Aurora in the middle of the night, take Nancy Reagan's advice*:

...

I'm so glad you asked.

From the ST:

At least 10 years of command-level experience in a large urban police agency;

• The ability to work with all segments of the community and elected leaders;

• A willingness to reach out to minority communities;

• An understanding of the importance of diversity and inclusiveness in and outside the department;

• Strong management and leadership skills;

• Experience working with labor organizations;

• And, in a nod to the Seattle way of doing things, the ability to deal with "ambiguity and process."

A group of possible gang members assaulted a man in the Central District last week after a dispute over parking quickly got out of hand, a police report says.

At about 6:30pm on March 2nd, a man and his daughter were sitting a car outside of a 99 cent store in the lot of Mid-town Center at 23rd and Spring when another vehicle pulled up behind them and boxed them in.

The father got out of the car and asked the group of three men in the other vehicle to move. The man got into an argument with the group, who told the man "this is union St" and "do you know where you are, this is union", a possible reference to the Union Street Hustlers gang. During the argument, the report says one of the group members "sucker punched" the man in the jaw.

The man's daughter pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911, but one of the suspects slapped the phone out of her hand. The group of men then got back in their car and drove off.

According to the report, the suspects are described as a black male in his late teens to early...

A woman arrested for assault outside of a Belltown nightclub last week probably should've taken officers up on that whole right-to-remain-silent thing.

A police report indicates the woman was kicked out of a bar on 2nd and Blanchard at about 10:45 pm on March 3rd after she tried to walk out with a beer in her hand. The woman told a bartender "she was from Miami and that she took to-go drinks all the time."

When a bouncer escorted the woman outside, she told him "I'm going to wait until you are off work and I will cut off your balls and kill you" and then punched him in the testicles.

The report appears to indicate that when another patron in the bar brought the woman her purse, she grabbed him by the testicles, and then tried to throw a chair at several people outside the bar.

Police arrived and arrested the woman for assault. On the way back to the precinct, the woman had some choice words for officers.

"She told me several times she was going to get a gun and shoot me in the head," Officer Matt Newsome...

Our news partners at Capitolhillseattle.com have dug up a bit of information on a man arrested for burglarizing a Capitol Hill home last month:

A 36-year-old man police say they caught in the act burglarizing a Capitol Hill home has spent nearly all of his adult life in prison. Convicted of second-degree murder in 1993 at the age of 19, the accused burglar now faces another five years in jail for charges he faces in connection with a February break-in that police say netted four PlayStation games and a small pile of video game cables and equipment.

Guy Lee Bash was arrested by Seattle police after they found him crawling out a window of a home on E. Republican near 19th Ave around 2:30 AM on February 18. According to the police report on the incident, the woman who lived in the home called 911, whispering that there shouldn't be anybody else in the house but that she could hear somebody inside. Arriving officers said they saw Bash exiting the house in a hurry, his backpack flipping open as he dropped...

SPD's arson/bomb squad sure is busy these days. In addition to all of the arson fires in the University District, the ABS is also investigating a several bombings around North Seattle

The most recent incident is detailed on SPD's Blotter:

ST:

A self-proclaimed white supremacist with a history of threats and harassment pleaded guilty Tuesday to malicious harassment, the state's hate-crime statute, and second-degree assault after he threatened a Muslim woman and her baby with a knife.

Police are investigating yet another unfortunate incident on a Metro bus after an 11-year-old boy was robbed in South Seattle last week.

According to a police report, the boy was on the problem-plagued #7 bus at about 7:30 p.m. on March 3rd when he pulled out his phone to read a text message.

A group of four or five black males, all 16-17 years old, approached the boy and told him to hand over his phone.

Although the group of teens did not make any specific threats, the boy told police he was afraid he would be hurt if he didn't give the teens his phone.

After the group of teens took the boy's phone, they got off the bus at Rainier Ave S and S Alaska St.

The boy told police he had never seen the teens before.

Seattle police are investigating a home-invasion robbery in the University District after a man pulled a gun on several people in an apartment and demanded money and drugs.

A police report says a group of people were hanging out in an apartment at 45th and 7th Ave NE at about 11:00p.m. on March 3rd, and invited another man—who the report indicates goes by the name "Doughboy"—into the unit.

Inside the apartment, the man pulled out a black handgun and "demanded money and drugs" from the tenant, who has a prescription for medical marijuana.

The suspect then stuffed money and drugs into a briefcase and fled the apartment.

As soon as the man left the apartment, the victim called 911 and told police the suspect was still in the building. Police surrounded the apartment complex—which, according to the report, has about 100 units—but were unable to locate the suspect.

The report indicates the man made off with $1,372 worth of money and drugs.

Ugh.

From the PI.com:

According to charging documents, staff at Swedish Medical Center was treating Josepha R. Munoz's newborn for a methadone addiction the girl was born with on Feb. 18 when nurses at the Seattle hospital found the child had stopped breathing. After reviving the girl, toxicologists determined the child had been poisoned with methadone, a synthetic drug used to treat heroin addiction.

Described to the court as a methadone and cocaine addict, Munoz had been alone with the child shortly before the girl stopped breathing, according to charging documents. Prosecutors claim Munoz -- for reasons unexplained in charging documents -- slipped the infant methadone during a visit.

A police report released Tuesday says a brutal attack on a man near the Seattle/Shoreline border last week may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Police were called to the 14300 block of Stone Ave N at 12:50 am on March 2nd after neighbors in a nearby apartment building heard a "loud disturbance" and found a 41-year-old man bleeding on the front steps of the building.

According to the report, one neighbor told police he heard a disturbance outside of his apartment and saw 5 white males get into a gold Chevy Lumina and flee the scene. Moments later, the 41-year-old man buzzed the neighbor for help.

The neighbor told police he "believes the assault was a case of mistaken identity."

Officers also spoke with another tenant in the apartment building who said "she believes the assault occurred due to narcotics activity" in the area. The report says the woman told police "people come and go from [a nearby] residence at all hours of the night" and that she "was not surprised this [assault] occurred."

Police...

From the SPD Blotter:

As we posted this morning, Seattle police and fire investigators are examining possible links between arson fires set in the University District the last few nights, and will apparently be stepping up patrols in the neighborhood.

From SFD's Fireline blog:

Seattle Fire Investigators and the Seattle Police Arson Bomb Unit are looking into whether   two car fires set in the University District over the past two days are related.

The latest car fire occurred early this morning in the 700 block of Northeast 42nd  Street.  The fire extended from a car parked on the street to the exterior of an adjacent duplex causing $25,000 in damage. The first car fire occurred at 12:30 a.m. on March 8th in the 4100 block of 11 Avenue Northeast.  The car was parked in the garage of an apartment building. The fire damage was confined to the car and is estimated at $2,500.

There were no injuries related to either fire.

As a precaution, Seattle Firefighters will be increasing their presence in the neighborhood...

Prosecutors have filed charges against a physical therapist at Swedish Medical Center for allegedly fondling several patients under the guise of treatment. From the PI.com

In charging documents, King County prosecutors contend that Michael James Shannon, 38, groped two patients, telling each that the contact was part of their therapy.

Swedish staff received an initial complaint against Shannon in mid August after a female patient at the Outpatient Rehabilitation Services -- Cherry Hill office reported the physical therapist had inappropriately touched her breasts.

A King County juvenile probation officer has filed a federal lawsuit against the Seattle Police Department after, the suit alleges, she was accosted by three Seattle police officers during an incident in the Central District in 2008.

According to the suit, Gaston—who, court filings say, has worked in juvenile court for about 12 years—dropped one of her juvenile clients in the Central District after taking him clothes shopping in September 2008. Minutes later, the court filing says, Gaston received a call from her client, who said he was being harassed by police officers

Gaston spoke with one of the officers on the phone, who, the suit alleges, told Gaston police had stopped her client for jaywalking, and that he "was being lippy." Gaston alleges officers told her the boy was "being difficult, so they were going to show him how they do things" in the Central District.

According to the suit, Gaston drove to 23rd and Jackson and found the boy handcuffed. Gaston claims that when she tried to intervene,...

From KOMO:

A 13-year-old girl is facing assault charges following a scuffle with a boy in her class.

The girl has been charged with third-degree assault in an incident that took place in the playground of Denny Middle School in June 2009.

The teen, then a sixth-grader, is accused of hitting a 12-year-old boy "twice on the head with her backpack," according to the statement of probable cause.

Several witnesses claimed the girl's bag contained rocks; however, a search of the bag did not reveal any rocks.

Update: We've confirmed that this morning's fire was the work of an arsonist. SFD tells us they're going to be putting out more information later today.

Within a 24 hour period, Seattle Police have been called to the scene of at least two suspicious car fires in the University District.

Arson investigators have determined that blazes set Early Monday and Tuesday morning were the work of an arsonist.

At about 12:30 am Monday morning, police and fire crews were called to 41st and 11th Ave NE after someone set fire to a car inside a parking garage, causing $2500 in damage.

Almost exactly 24 hours after the car was torched at 41st and 11th, a number of fire units were called to put out another car fire in the University District, this time at NE 42nd and 7th Ave NE.

Police and the Fire Marshall were on scene, but SPD could not immediately confirm whether this was another case of arson. However, one police officer we spoke with told us that spontaneous car fires "don't just happen."

According to Seattle Fire...