Category Archives: Neighborhood Security

Suspicious Activity – Early Morning – 27 Sep and 28 Sep 2017

Yesterday Rod Okazaki came over and asked about a car he heard acting strangely at around 0250hrs. This morning I received an e-mail from Dav Eide on the same subject.  Just a while ago I received a phone call from Rod asking me to check around 0145hrs this morning because he was certain he had heard the same car come down 117th St. again.

Reviewing the pictures I found the car in question.  It appeared that the passenger had a laptop and that they were cruising around looking for unsecured WiFi signals.  This same car was seen at 0250hrs on the 27th and again at 0145hrs on the 28th. On the 28th it stopped on 136th Ave. E. just before it got to 11728, backed up to around 11734, then left the area.  If you do not have a secure password for your WiFi you may get hacked by these people.  We could not get a license plate shot because they appeared to have some sort of blocking which made it impossible for our license plate camera to get a clear picture of the plate.  Dav and I will be searching for a way to defeat this kind of blocking in the future.

While I was searching the pictures I observed a vehicle at 0305hrs stop at  the mailboxes across from Wayne Flood’s house. The passenger got out and walked to the mailboxes.  At first I thought it was a mail thief, but after careful examination of the pictures I believe it was the morning paper being delivered.  However – remember not to leave mail in your mailbox overnight.  If you are going to be away have someone pick up your mail or stop it at the Post Office. 

 

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Microsoft Scams

The other day my wife received an e-mail purportedly from Microsoft with the subject:  Suspicious Message: “We are having some time trouble online identifying your… system”

She quickly identified it as a Phishing message and forwarded it to me for reporting. I needed to send Microsoft the complete headers for the message, which meant I had to get them from the message on her computer, but it was a Mac, not the PC I was used to. After some painful manual manipulations between OutLook for Mac and PC versions I was able to extract the required information for the Microsoft Abuse Reporting Site.

I took the message headers, pasted them onto the original message and forwarded them to abuse@microsoft.com .  I received a reply from Microsoft stating that the message WAS NOT from them (which I already knew) and giving me a link which contained a lot of valuable information I wanted to share with our BLOG community.  See the link below:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/safety/online-privacy/phishing-scams.aspx

If you get a suspicious message purportedly from Microsoft, your bank, some agency like the FBI, Social Security, etc.  You can always forward it to abuse@(Microsoft, your bank, etc.)  Most agencies will respond to messages addressed to abuse@(whatever agency you want).  Remember to include the full header so that it can be investigated.

 

Crack Smoking & Junk Dumping

This morning 25 July 2017 I received an e-mail I thought I needed to share with the Neighborhood for two reasons. (1) One of our neighbors reported a woman openly smoking crack beside the road, and the police did not respond. (2) I would like to find out if anyone took down the license plate number of the maroon Dodge pickup the fellow was using to dump trash from.  If you know the license number or know anything more about either incident, please let me know by commenting on this post or e-mailing me.

Hi Kirk, I just wanted to let you know that on Saturday morning around 10:30 there was a middle aged blonde woman sitting on the side of the road on Military between 137 and 136 smoking crack I called the police, no one came but she was eventually picked up by someone she knew!

Then this morning while out for a walk around 6:45 there was a maroon Dodge pickup at the top of Military dumping a 5 gallon black metal drum, 2 cars stopped and watched him. I’m not sure if they got his license plate, but returned a few minutes later and retrieved the drum. Glad those neighbors stopped and watched him. Anyways this is just a FYI for everyone to keep your eyes open.

“Hi, this is the Tax Crime Investigation Unit of the IRS”

The title of this piece is the first words I heard from a message on my answering machine. The voice continued to instruct me that a warrant had been issued for my arrest and I was under observation. Unless I called the number at the end of the message immediately I was subject to arrest.

My action?  I immediately brought up the NOMOROBO Internet site and reported the number.  Then I logged into the IRS site and made a report of the call.

Folks the IRS does not issue an arrest warrant, and THEN call you. So if you get a similar call, report it immediately. DO NOT RESPOND TO THE CALL. The information displayed for my call was West Jeffers OH  614-349-9741.

SCAM — “Can you hear me now?” — SCAM

My Computer Consultant asked me to alert my friends to a NEW SCAM.

Your phone rings (usually but not limited to cell phones). There is usually a delay and some noise like the caller is having trouble with a headset.  A voice asks “Can you hear me now?”  The normal response is to say “Yes”.  DO NOT SAY “YES”!

The caller has information from your credit card and is recording you saying “Yes”.  Or he has several other things in mind, from selling you a resort time share, to a cruise to services you do not want. He then charges your credit card and when you dispute the charge, he plays a supposed tape from your “call” to him in which he ask if you agree to the charges and your voice is heard saying “Yes”. Your credit card company then drops the complaint and you are on the hook for the fraudulent charge.

Remember –   If the voice on the phone says “Can you hear me now”, HANG UP – Do not reply.

For further information type “Can you hear me scam” into your web browser and read the articles there.

NOTE: Just before I started writing this article I sent an e-mail to several friends advising them about this scam.  A friend in Australia replied that she forwarded my e-mail to one of her friends in Boston, who received a “Can you hear me” call just afterward –  and promptly hung up.  Score one for us!

Alert Neighbors & Their Security Cameras Help Police Capture Thieves

I just learned about a break in which happened at 12427 137th Ave. E. on 29 Dec 2016 between 9 and 10AM.  The thieves broke a window in the dining room to get into the house.  They also broke into the workshop.

The police were helped by a landscape gardener and a neighbor of the homeowner supplying video from his security cameras and pictures of a red VW Jetta.  Unfortunately they were unable to make out the license plate number.  The neighbor noticed the car because it was driving slowly and turned into his driveway, possibly because his garage door was open.  The driver turned around when he noticed a person standing outside by her car.

Police were helped because the thieves left clear fingerprints on the victim’s outside window and sliding door.  The fingerprints were in the police fingerprint system. The victim’s alarm system helped alert another neighbor.

Police arrested Joshua Adam Kaelin and Michael James Taylor two weeks later.  Charges have been filed and a court date scheduled for 8 March 2017.  Unfortunately none of the items taken in the burglary have been found.

More Crime around our Neighborhood

I was gone most of December and I find that the Bad Guys have been active around our Neighborhood.  I have received reports of several break-ins of various types near our Neighborhood. Two occurred in the Shawnee Ridge addition, one in Heather Hills and two just across 122nd St.  The two in Shawnee Ridge involved car prowls.  The one in Heather Hills involved a door being kicked in while the owners were absent.  One of the ones across 122nd, was a theft from a soft top jeep. The last, which I do not have a firm location on must have involved several people because I understand that a gun safe was stolen, and those suckers are heavy.

One of the car prowls was captured on CCTV, but unfortunately the video quality was not the greatest.  The one clear shot showed an individual in a hoodie, with a beard, who looked ever so much like Casey Neil Patrick who we believe took part in previous vandalism in our Neighborhood.

Individual involved in car prowl in Dec 2016

Capture 2Capture 1

Casey Neil Patrick

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A Previous vandal

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Bear Stuff — Again!

Below are comments from Washington Fish and Wildlife.  Please check out the PDF mentioned as it has a lot of good information on Black Bears.  Here are some of the pictures from my cameras.

It will be important that the neighborhood tries to keep as many attractants secured as possible.. Even if only one house has something available the bear will come to your area.. You can send out the PDF on our website here: http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/bear.pdf that tells you what they are most attracted too. Fruit trees are some of their favorite things.. but garbage is by far the biggest attractant.

 

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What We Know About Recent Criminal Activity

The Orting Police stopped the Dark Green SUV  License Number ASY7390 and arrested the individuals inside.  They were identified as  Whittier, Kristofer Floyd and Patrick, Casey Neil.  As  of this writing they were transferred to Pierce County Jail and released pending receipt of changes from Orting and any action by the Pierce County Prosecutor. It is believed their vehicle is still in the possession of the Orting Police.

I was given a link http://dw.courts.wa.gov/index.cfm?fa=home.namelist  which allows people to search for Names, case numbers etc.  Check out the names Whittier, Kristofer Floyd and Patrick, CaseyYou will find quite a bit on their criminal history.

Contact the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office  http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/index.aspx?nid=118   Address930 Tacoma Ave S #946, Tacoma, WA 98402  Phone(253) 798-7400 Fax: 798-6636 and ask about these people.  Contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/index.aspx?nid=121  Phone: 798-7530 and ask why Whittier, Kristofer Floyd and Patrick, Casey Neil  Case Numbers Sherriff 1618901173 and 1620201467 have not been sent to the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office. Contact the Orting Police http://cityoforting.org/services/police-department/  Address: 401 Washington Avenue Southeast, Orting, WA 98360 Phone: (360) 893.3111   Fax: (360) 893-3129 and ask when Orting 16-674 will be sent to the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office.

I was sent these two pictures with this comment: “I believe these are the two guys, these are the guys that pop up on Facebook.  The bald one is Kristofer Whittier the really bad guy.  They are both 23 almost 24.”

In addition to the Dark Green SUV (ASY7390) at least one of them came into the Neighborhood riding a motorcycle at 0413hrs, 7 July 2016 to do a little more stealing.

If you see them or their vehicle in the Neighborhood –CALL  911  IMMEDIATELY

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