‘Crime wave’ hits east Edmonds

Published 11:00 am Friday, June 13, 2008

After his jewelry store in east Edmonds near Highway 99 was robbed June 5, Andy Cline, 31, his father Jerry Cline, 59, and two other people chased down the 24-year-old robber, cornered him, tackled him and then waited for police to arrive.

They did. Michael Kosta, of Seattle, was arrested with a $500 diamond tennis bracelet and charged with second-degree theft, and first-degree criminal impersonation.

After the police, TV cameras arrived and so did newspaper reporters. The Cline’s story — good tripping up evil — was a compelling one.

But, for Cline and other business owners in the small Aurora Marketplace Shopping Center at 238th Street Southwest and Highway 99, the complete story is darker.

Robberies are becoming all too common, business owners said.

The jewelry store robbery was the third robbery in the shopping center in less than three weeks, and the second one where employees chased robbers into the parking lot and helped detain them.

A card shop was robbed overnight in mid-May, Safeway’s pharmacy was robbed at gunpoint in late-May and then there was the Cline Jewelers robbery — all less than 50 yards from each other.

“It has been really bad,” said John Strazzara, who had $16,000 in merchandise stolen from his A World of Collections cards and collectibles shop in May. “The beautiful veneer of Edmonds is long gone now. We are being affected just like any other community.

“It’s a crime wave going on,” he said June 10.

The Highway 99 area has seen a host of other crimes recently, including multiple break ins, Strazzara said.

It is debatable if the crimes constitute a ‘wave,’ but police have noticed the robberies, Sgt. Don Anderson said.

The most immediate problem is the neighborhood, Anderson said.

“That area up there is surrounded by sleazy motels,” he said. “You get a lot of crime with motels like that.”

The business owners offer slightly different critiques — from the economy to a rising drug problem.

The motels, they point out, aren’t new. The crimes are.

Cline has been in Edmonds for nine years and Strazzara 12 years. Neither has ever been robbed before, they told the Enterprise.

“There is a lot of shady stuff up the street,” Cline said. “But before (this) there weren’t that many problems.”

Cline is now reevaluating his store’s security, he said. He’ll go over procedures with his employees, and examine security cameras, he said.

Ultimately, both store owners expressed some sort of relief.

Strazzara said he felt lucky he was robbed overnight. That way nobody got hurt.

Cline said he felt lucky that the thief that hit his store wasn’t armed. When the thief was initially cornered, he picked up a cement block, and threatened his pursuers.

“We were lucky that the guy did not have a gun or a knife or anything like that,” Cline said.

Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com