SEATTLE — The first criminal cases were filed this week against two of four teenagers allegedly responsible for an “astonishing” 78 violent crimes committed across King County over the last two months, according to prosecutors.
The foursome was arrested Oct. 10 after they were forced to pull over on a highway offramp in Federal Way to change a tire, then running from a Mercedes-Benz stolen in an armed carjacking in Bellevue six hours earlier, say the initial charges filed Tuesday against the eldest suspect.
Additional charges against the teens — a 15-year-old, two 16-year-olds and an 18-year-old — are expected to be filed as police complete their investigations and send cases to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for charging decisions.
Seattle police said the group was responsible for 22 armed robberies in the city at a news conference last week. They targeted gas stations, convenience stores and restaurants, typically wearing face coverings, brandishing firearms and demanding cash and personal items, Assistant Chief Thomas Mahaffey said at the time. Court records show they’re also suspected of carjackings, street robberies and other thefts that appear “to be part of a regional series across multiple jurisdictions.”
In large investigations, it is not uncommon for police to refer some cases initially and refer additional cases later, Casey McNerthney, a prosecutor’s spokesperson, said in an email.
“It takes significant time for police investigators to work cases and to meet the statewide legal requirements for admissible evidence,” McNerthney wrote. “Police can refer cases and King County prosecutors can make charging decisions anytime within the statute of limitations.”
The suspects
So far, prosecutors filed charges against one 16-year-old and John Bailey-Johnson, 18, of Renton. The 16-year-old remains in juvenile detention while Bailey-Johnson is being held in the King County Jail in lieu of $350,000 bail.
The 15-year-old was booked into juvenile detention on a bench warrant issued in August after he failed to comply with court-ordered terms of a suspended disposition in an earlier case in which he was charged with second-degree robbery and taking a motor vehicle without permission, according to McNerthney.
The second 16-year-old, who has been identified by Seattle police, was not booked into detention and a case against him has not yet been referred to prosecutors.
The Seattle Times does not name kids under age 18 accused of committing crimes unless they are charged as adults.
Prosecutors on Tuesday charged one of the 16-year-olds with two counts of first-degree robbery in connection with an Oct. 4 armed holdup at a convenience store near Seattle University, charging papers say. Two customers, who were in line to buy snacks, handed over their wallets before the masked intruder forced the clerk to open the register and took about $100 in cash, the charges say.
Surveillance footage showed the robbery took one minute before the assailant ran out the door.
When he was arrested six days later, the 16-year-old had one victim’s wallet inside his bag, according to the charges. He was also seen earlier in the day by police officers conducting surveillance armed with a handgun and extended magazine that matched the weapon seen in the surveillance footage, the charges say. Police found the same gun in the driver’s seat of the stolen Mercedes.
The 16-year-old was also charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Bailey-Johnson was charged with first-degree robbery, theft of a motor vehicle and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, accused of being one of three assailants who robbed two men at gunpoint as they walked through their Bellevue apartment complex on Oct. 10.
“They said they would shoot me and my friend and my dog,” one of the victims was quoted as saying in charging papers. “And they cocked the gun back and shoved the guns in our face.”
One man was robbed of his wallet, gold necklace, grillz, Air Jordan sneakers and keys to his Mercedes, while the second handed over his cellphone and jacket, the charges say.
One of the robbers took off in a Mercedes that belonged to one of the victims and the other two jumped into a gray SUV, according to the charges.
A victim alerted a police officer that his stolen phone was less than a half-mile north, according to the charges. As the officer drove, he found items belonging to the two victims strewn along the route and ultimately located a gray SUV that had been stolen in Burien the day before, the charges say.
Finding a stolen Mercedes
Seattle police later spotted the stolen Mercedes outside a Federal Way apartment complex and two hours later, the four teens were seen getting into the car, charging papers say.
Officers conducting surveillance saw the Mercedes traveling east on Highway 18 around 7 p.m. before the car stopped on an exit ramp toward the West Valley Highway, where the occupants tried to change a tire, the charges say.
Members of Seattle Police Department’s SWAT team moved in to arrest the teens, who ran off in different directions, according to the charges. Bailey-Johnson was found hiding in blackberry bushes, about 6 feet from a hole he had dug in “a crude attempt” to bury a gun, the charges say.
The 9 mm handgun had previously been reported stolen to Kent police, charging papers say.
Court records did not indicate on Wednesday which defense attorney is representing Bailey-Johnson, who is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 28.
