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Police arrest prolific smash-and-grab thief
The man uses stolen cars to smash into small businesses in Kent, Renton and Tukwila.
RENTON, Wash. - A prolific crash-and-grab burglary suspect is now in custody at King County Jail.
Investigators said the repeat offender, 27-year-old Feleti Wight, has used vehicles to ram his way into several businesses throughout South King County. Investigators with Renton Police Department were able to track Wight down and arrest him on Sept. 22 before he struck again.
Detective Robert Onishi said surveillance video revealed Wight always used the same tactic when committing a burglary—ramming the rear bumper of a stolen car into the front entrance of the targeted business.
"That vehicle would be backed into a front door, to either disturb the window glass or just break out the entire door frame. And then the suspect, who was usually masked up, would run in, grab whatever items he could in a very short span of time. Generally only inside for a minute, maybe two minutes at most. And then he’d run back out to the vehicle and drive off," said Onishi.
The detective said Wight’s alleged crime spree has spanned across Renton, Kent, Tukwila and other parts of south King County. Onishi said Wight was suspected of 19 burglary cases in Renton alone.
"Mr. Wight was picking on small businesses. I don’t know if that is because of a perceived vulnerability, or because they didn’t have necessarily updated security systems or what the rationale was. But we’re looking at family-owned restaurants and family-owned nail salons and other small shops that are probably unable to afford the disruption this causes," said Onishi. "They would ask me, ‘Who would do this to us? Why would someone do this to us? What do we have here that was even worth doing this for? And now look at all this mess we need to clean up.’ That’s just not a kind of trauma people need or deserve."
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said Wight has been charged in four pending cases against him, all of them connected to burglary, stolen cars or eluding police. Court documents said since 2016, Washington courts have issued more than 20 warrants for his arrest.
Last year, Renton police found him passed out at the wheel of a stolen car. He was arrested at the scene.
"He was in custody for some period of time, a matter of months there with pending charges for a number of those burglaries. And then the court released him. And all this started back up again," said Onishi.
The detective said Wight was allegedly back on the streets stealing cars and targeting small businesses once again. Onishi explained Wight’s latest target was a family-owned Teriyaki restaurant in Renton. Investigators conducted extensive surveillance on Wight and later arrested him.
"We hate to see what it took along the way, in terms of damage to our community and our businesses, to get us to the point where we were able to get him," said Onishi.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said every time Wight was charged, prosecutors would argue for a high bail amount since he was considered "a danger to the community." However, prosecutors said it’s a judge that ultimately sets a lower bail—low enough for Wight to get out of custody on his own recognizance.
Prosecutors in the High Priority Repeat Offender Group filed the latest charges against Wight. Prosecutors asked he be held on $100,000 and the court agreed.
Onishi said he hopes it’s a high enough bail amount to keep him locked up for a while.
"The worry would be that down the line, periodically that gets reviewed by judges, and at some point in time that number might be reduced," said the detective.
Wight is scheduled for an arraignment on Oct. 11.