SEATTLE — A middle-school student who was beaten up by a group of teens and robbed of his iPhone 6 touched off a lengthy Seattle police investigation into the owner of a small grocery store, who was charged this week with multiple counts of trafficking in stolen property.
Mohamed Nejash, 49, “specializes in buying stolen goods from juveniles” so he doesn’t have to pay them as much for the same items taken in street robberies, car prowls and burglaries, according to felony charges filed Tuesday by King County prosecutors.
Nejash was briefly jailed in October 2014 but was released as police built their case against him and tracked down the owners of more than 100 items seized from the Bakkalch Mini Market on Rainier Avenue South, charging papers say.
A warrant was issued this week for Nejash’s arrest on one count of first-degree possession of stolen property and five counts of second-degree trafficking in stolen property in a case with 71 alleged victims, including John Muir Elementary School, according to court records.
Nejash doesn’t have a criminal record but was the subject of a separate, stolen-property investigation in 2013, charging papers say.
The new investigation began with the attack and robbery of a 12-year-old Seattle boy, who was playing basketball at the Rainier Beach Community Center in October 2014. A 15-year-old asked to borrow the boy’s $750 iPhone 6, then knocked the younger boy to the ground and snatched the cellphone from his hand, according to the charges.
The boy chased the 15-year-old and two other boys, ages 14 and 16, to try to get his phone back, but was repeatedly punched by the older boys, the charges say.
The younger boy reported the theft and assault to his school-resource officer at Aki Kurose Middle School, and the Seattle police officer in turn contacted a detective, who questioned the three suspects, charging papers say. The three reported that a fourth boy had sold the stolen iPhone to Nejash for $175, which the boys split among themselves, say the papers.
(It does not appear from court records that any of the juveniles were charged in connection with the alleged robbery and assault of the 12-year-old.)
A few days later, Seattle police obtained a search warrant for Nejash’s store and determined that two laptop computers for sale had been reported stolen, one in a residential burglary in the Central District and the other in a North Seattle car prowl, the charges say.
Detectives got a second warrant and seized more than $12,000 cash and 250 cellphones, 57 computers, 40 cameras, 34 portable GPS units, a telescope, jewelry, two guitars, 350 cartons of illegal cigarettes and a variety of other electronic devices, according to charging documents.
Four detectives spent several months checking serial numbers and identifying markings to track down the rightful owners, confirming 112 of the items had been stolen, according to the charges.
“The crimes occurred in many cities and counties, mostly in 2014, but some items were reported stolen as early as 2010,” charging papers say. “Many of the remaining items are likely stolen, but many of the electronic devices are password protected, and are not accessible to determine the owner’s identity, or they are ‘wiped clean.’ “
