Ballardite arrested, suspected of recent armed robberies

Geeky Swedes Ballard

Updated: The 20-year-old man suspected of armed robbery in Ballard had a bail hearing this afternoon. The suspect waived his right to appear and listened to the proceeding from another room.

Back of defense attorney

Prosecutors filed probable cause papers for one count of robbery in the second degree and asked for $100,000 “based on the seriousness of the allegations.” The suspect has several cases pending including assault and possession of stolen property. He has also had two warrants in the last year. He has not been convicted of either crime. Because of this, the defense attorney asked that bail be set at $10,000.

“Given in what appears to be escalation in actions allegedly by the defendant and the seriousness of the allegations that a firearm was used as a weapon,” Judge Mark C Chow told the court, “Set bail at $100,000.”

The prosecutor has until Friday, March 11th to file charges.

Earlier A 20-year-old Ballard man was arrested on Tuesday afternoon and booked into King County Jail on Investigation of Robbery.

The man is suspected of five recent armed robberies and one purse-snatching in the Ballard and Phinney areas. Detective Mark Jamieson with the Seattle Police Department tells us that victims were able to give police enough of a description for them to determine a person of interest.

The latest armed robbery was on February 25th when a Loyal Heights man was confronted by the suspect, who was armed, demanding his wallet, cell phone and money. Immediately after the 10:40 p.m. robbery, the suspect was caught on surveillance camera at a local ATM trying to use the victim’s debit card, Jamieson says. Police positively identified the suspect as the person of interest.

On Tuesday afternoon, Jamieson tells us, that robbery detectives saw the suspect and a friend walking in the Loyal Heights area wearing some of the same clothing as in the ATM photos. The two were taken in for questioning. The companion was questioned and released and the suspect was arrested.

Earlier robbery stories:
– Man robbed at Sunset Hill Park, two other robberies nearby (February 16th)
– Woman victim of armed robbery in Crown Hill (March 4th)
Suspect is not accused of this convenience store robbery:
– Convenience store on 15th Ave. and 77th St. robbed (February 24th)

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

65 thoughts to “Ballardite arrested, suspected of recent armed robberies”

  4. It is public information, but they may make you hunt for it. The King County Jail has a booking roster where you can see anyone currently in custody; search by name and also booking date. If you call the court listed in the booking sheet, you can ask for pretty much anything you want (other than address, DOB, etc). The case details are public.

  6. Given how much crap the SPD has taken of late, some warranted, some not, I would like to second the expression of gratitude. We do have good police protection in our community who do a lot with a little.

  7. They do a lot with a little? How about we get the proper amount so that they can do the proper amount and catch these kinds of criminals sooner? I’d rather that this criminal was picked up after the first robbery and not the fifth.

  8. “I’d rather that this criminal was picked up after the first robbery and not the fifth.”

    Since you’re a law enforcement professional would like to inform us of how you would do that? What evidence present from the first robbery would you use to identify and apprehend the correct suspect out of the thousands of white males in their teens/early twenties?

  9. I would like to see he mug shot since I was the woman in the Whitman MS parking lot that was robbed at gunpoint. I will look further. All he got from me was $20 while waving the gun around. Hey kid, have any regrets? 10 years in jail for $20?

  12. Score one for the SPD!
    Congrats on this.
    We were told at a community crime prevention meeting that there was a suspect. Nice to hear of the arrest.

  13. With the update that bail has been set, I would assume he has been charged. If nothing else, we should be able to see the ATM video.

  14. Fortunately this kid is old enough to do some serious time. We’ll see if he actually gets more than a slap on the wrist… assuming he is guilty of course.

  17. This turd is once again inside the criminal justice system. Where criminals get justice. While I think many here would like to see some “street justice”, I’ d like to see him in blocks right in Ballard in Bergen park so we could all go by and “thank him” for bleeping up our community.

  18. I hope they got their man, and that he gets his just deserts. I don’t care to know his name or see his face yet. I do want an unprejudiced trial in which the truth will out. By-the-way armed robbery used to be a felony in the old days (which meant hanging by the neck until dead, soonish too).

  20. “The suspect waived his right to appear and listened to the proceeding from another room.”
    the stupid press put him behind a two way mirror, look in the bottom left. you can see a reflection of a man, looks to be about 20.
    hmmm, looks an awful lot like my neighbor

  21. I had to search but found the name. My older kids know of him. Since I was one of his victims, I don’t feel comfortable posting it though.

  22. Yeah, the lower left of the photo seems to present either a double exposure or a reflection.

    Is that the suspect?

    And I trust that the swedes will certainly release the name when they are charged.
    I would certainly love to hear about the recovery of a weapon, and that the police take custody of the other(s) involved.

    Thank you to the SPD, and to the judge setting a bail amount that makes sense, for once.

  23. yeah, thanks to the spd for actually DOING THEIR JOB.

    I wish people would come ‘congratulate’ me when I actually fulfill my job duties, instead of assuming I would actually do it for the money.

  25. I think maybe they are expressing relief that someone was caught.

    So you don’t feel left out, Congratulations! those fries were awesome.

  26. kudoless

    great handle for a bitter little man.

    Say, assuming that I’ve never thanked you for doing YOUR job makes you even smaller.

    But, hey, I know the cops can’t win kudos from some.

  29. go look in the king county jail page. bookings for 3/8/11. robbery. look under last names starting with a “T”, first name “S”.

  30. SEAN EDWARD TURAY
    Total Bail Amount: $ 100,000.00
    12/02/2010 POSS STLN PROP 1
    06/03/2010 ASLT 4 DV/BOND SURR
    05/03/2010 ASSAULT 4 DV
    03/08/2011 ROBBERY INV

  32. Info from the Seattle Municipal Courts website.
    SEAN E TURAY. DOB 12/28/1990.

    He’s been thrice cited for driving w/out insurance. The third time he appears to’ve had a suspended licence. The charge was “dismissed with prejudice, first time offender”. Apparently a pending domestic voilence charge doesn’t count as “offense”…

    26 March 2009 he was charged with assualt, criminal trespass and harassment. The charges were dropped when the prosecution’s witness failed to show up. 4 May 2010 he was charged with assault and property destruction—this is the assault case that’s still open. It’s a domestic violence case. How much you wanna bet the victim of this assault and the missing witness from March ’09 are the same person?

    Looks like this guy’s been a menace to a lot of people for quite a while—lord knows what’s in his juvenile record. And it escalated to robbing strangers with a deadly weapon. Thank god he was caught before anyone wound up dead. Here’s hoping he gets some serious time.

  37. People normally do not act alone in these sort of crimes. I would expect additional arrests. I hope his family will step forward and apologize to the community for their son’s actions.

  40. I always like the apoligies u hear from the parents. “I can’t believe it. He is trying to turn his life around. He is a aspiring rapper well liked in the community. He got mixed up with some of the wrong kids.Blah Blah Blah F_ _KING Blah

  41. And what do you do that is of such great value to society that it warrants thanks?? How many gun wielding criminals have you taken off the street?

  43. I would guess that they are only tying that one to him to get him charged. Then I am guessing that they will put it all together. They have pictures from that one and have a positive id.

  44. My reply got eaten by the internets, so here’s a brief recap without the snark and flair:
    Yes it’s great that this guy was caught, but if we had a police force who’s size better matched our city’s size it would be much more likely that this person would have been caught after the first or second crime, and not the fifth or sixth. When you have more police they are faster to respond to the scene making it more likely to catch the perpetrator. When you have more police you have more detectives who can follow up on leads and track down criminals. When you don’t have enough police, they are slow to respond and often without sufficient numbers to effectively find the perpetrators. The detectives can’t keep up with caseloads and then have to decide which crimes to pursue. That’s not a slight against the police department, it’s just the reality of policing on the cheap as Seattle does. Luckily we have a lower crime rate to begin with, but that doesn’t mean that we should have to live with the consequences of having too few police to be able to be as effective as they can be.

  45. Glad he is off the streets. Things were clearly escalating and who knows what was next. Happy to hear his parents were involved in identifying him. Must be hard when your best parenting option left is identifying your kid to the police. Happy to hear they haven’t given up, many have at this point or sooner.
    I know this kid/man and this family. They have tried for years and it wasn’t enough. Cocky, smart ass, little punk many will confirm. He has all the traits that would allow him to try and pull crimes like this off, especially when drugs are the motive. On the other side of those traits is a pretty sharp, funny kid who knew how to get along and I know for a fact cares about his family and friends and being Ballard . Don’t get me wrong, I feel terrible for the victims that had deadly weapons aimed at them. I would have been terrified had I been on that end.
    I guess all I’m saying is it’s a sad story all around. One thing I have valued about raising a family in Ballard for all these years is the Village. This is a Ballard son. He’s one of ours. Maybe one more hello or how are you or piece of passing advice when we ran into him, especially any of us who knew how far gone he was (i certainly did not) might have bumped him or give him cause to check himself one more time and averted all of this.
    On these pages I hear many new Ballardites raising families and I can tell you, you are going to meet your generation’s version of this kid. He will be in your kid’s classes, he’ll be on your kids community center teams and he’s going to drive you nuts. And then your going to get to know the kid beyond all the mouth and attitude and your going to start caring about him. Depending on how things go he’s going to get it together or things will start spiraling out of control mid-junior high. His reputation will make it tougher for him to find new friends or adults willing to give him the time of day. This is when, if you have the good fortune to run into him, you should try and remember the 3rd, 4th or 5th grader, he’s in there. Stop and talk to him, ask him how he’s doing, what he’s doing, tell him a positive memory from his past and drop a little word of encouragement. That would be the Ballard way. Who knows, maybe that would be the difference at 20 years old between this young man thinking about going back to school rather than where he can get his hands on a gun.
    And save the “I’m blaming society” comments. The young man is solely responsible for his actions. I hope his victims receive justice and the system is able to get him back on track. Just a little advice to younger families from a neighbor who watched this manifest itself over the last 15 years.

  47. Thank you for writing this. I am so sick of people not thinking before they write thing on here. It is so sad that this happened and Im glad he is of the streets. I remember the little boy he was and its so sad to see that this has happened.

  48. “if we had a police force who’s size better matched our city’s size”

    We more or less do and even then there is no link between more cops and more safety. That’s not opinion, it’s a matter of facts. According to the Census Bureau our city is the 23rd largest in the US. #21 and #22 are Baltimore and El Paso. #24 and #25 are Denver and Nashville. Here’s the number of citizens per sworn officer for each city:
    Baltimore: 200
    El Paso: 590
    Seattle: 487
    Denver: 411
    Nashville: 483

    That puts us just below the midpoint and hardly out of range with our peers. Also if you think Baltimore is better off since they have more cops per citizen you better guess again. In 2010 Baltimore had 223 homicides while crime plagued Seattle had 19. So much for more cops resulting in more safety. Next time someone whines about how horrible crime is here they should be grateful they’re not in Charm City.

    Other large cities bear this out:
    Cops per citizen for the 3 largest cities (in order):
    NYC: 243
    LA: 383
    Chicago: 211

    The 2007 homicide rate in Chicago was 15.6 per 100,000 people and the burglary rate is 881 per 100,000 people. LA had a homicide rate of 9.6 and a burglary rate of 464 for the same year.

  50. “According to the Department of Justice, the national average is about one officer for every 271 residents. Some cities have more than that—New York City has one officer for every 218 residents—while others have fewer. Atlanta, Georgia, with a population similar to Seattle’s, has one officer for every 279 residents. Denver, Colorado, has one officer for every 354 residents. Seattle has just one officer for every 500 residents.”

    “Seattle has 1,307 sworn officer positions, and SPOG estimates that more than 100 of those positions are currently unfilled. Things have gotten so bad that cops are starting to seriously worry about their own safety.”

    “Some officers flying solo on patrol have been forced to resort to shining their lights down dark alleyways and shouting orders to disperse over their megaphones—instead of making arrests for street crimes—because of the lack of backup. Clearly, SPD is in desperate need of officers.”

  51. Well put and thank you for helping to remind us to let all our kids know we care about them.
    You never know when a kind word is going to make a difference to someone.
    I am heartbroken for his parents.

  52. ” is a pretty sharp, funny kid who knew how to get along”

    Yep, and now he’s gonna learn to get along with some of the bulls in Monroe instead of terrorizing us..

    “This is a Ballard son. He’s one of ours. ”

    Nope. he’s old school, Ballard trailer trash. Not all have been pushed out yet.

    “Maybe one more hello”

    Sure, that would have helped!

    “That would be the Ballard way.”

    Yawn….and BS.

  53. It seems most his defenders are barely literate; no surprise there.

    Don’t worry, he’s young & he’s funny. The bulls will love him in Monroe for the next 10 years.

  54. Nice post, I always enjoy a delusional rant in the afternoon.

    Gotta love the apartment dwelling, minimum wage earning, single, hipster trolls with nothing better to do than flame someone on a community forum. If you had an ounce of intelligence and the ability to comprehend his post you might have understood the message.

    It sounds like you have a deep hatred of long term residents that actually own a home and have a decent job, funny what jealousy does to someones psyche. I hate to tell you this but the hipster tools and yuppies aren’t here to stay, you’ll all be gone when the next hip neighbor hood is discovered. I hate to break this to you, there is no new Ballard.

    You really should refrain from exposing your fantasies regarding prison bulls on a forum. Sounds like a Freud thing.

    Thanks anyway for the entertainment, maybe when you mature a bit you’ll have something tangible to offer.

  56. Thanks, Ballard Dad. I also know this kid, he is my brother’s age and I grew up with him in the Loyal Heights/greater Ballard community. I am aware of his reputation and have had a few confrontations with him myself because he is, indeed, a little punk. But I also know how it feels to see someone you have known for a very long time get into this sort of trouble. You’re right, there are a handful in each generation and it is unfortunate. His actions do not surprise me, they only serve to further support the awful reputation he has had since day 1. However, it is very sad to see this kid spiral down even further. I thought that maybe he would figure it out one day, hopefully sooner rather than later. I have no specific point to make, just wanted to say thank you for shedding a new light on this situation from the point of view of someone who knows the kid and the circumstances.

  57. I sure appreciate the views of Ballard Dad and DWSC but the fact is, some people are just hopeless. And it isn’t due to bad parenting or a troubled community. It’s a twist or a kink of the DNA. Fact is, my daughter is unusually lucky. She doesn’t take after me. She’s bright, empathic, caring and talented. The possibility that she could have crossed paths with this guy and been killed makes me think that…..well, some people…..even some people’s kids….. are better off removed from this earth. Sorry to say it. I’m not religious and I don’t believe that everyone has worth. Only some people.

  59. How come when ever some scum bag in Ballard goes out and commits a violent crime, his semi-literate friends all show up here dropping their ‘yo boyz’ and ‘killaz’ like turds in a paddling pool? It’s like they are proud of the ignorance and lifelong plans to be total losers like this POS.

    Enjoy your job at Jiffy Lube….if you can even get one there.

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