Everett Mom Has Her Car Stolen -- Twice

Everett Mom Has Her Car Stolen -- Twice

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Story Published: Jan 27, 2004 at 3:07 PM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 1:23 AM PDT

By April Zepeda

EVERETT - Talk about a bad day.

A single mom was grateful when police recovered her stolen car. But just hours later another crook stole it again.

Turns out, her car is popular among car thieves these days.

On Thursday morning, Jennifer Green walked out of her Everett apartment to bad news. Her 1992 Saturn SL wasn't in her parking spot.

"I walked over there and it was gone. I thought ' Oh no!' " she said. My son, oh my goodness, I couldn't believe how sad he was. He said, 'Where's my car, mommy?' "

Green worried about how she would get her 2 1/2-year-old son Nicholas to daycare and herself to a full time job.

Then she got lucky. Everett police found her car the next morning and returned it.

On the day Green got her car back, she went to work and then drove to an evening church meeting.

When she came out, she found her car stolen, again. Thieves had stolen Green's car just 17 hours after she got it back.

"When I came out and it was gone again, it about freaked me out. I just couldn't understand. It was the last place I would expect to feel so vulnerable," said Green.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the Everett-Seattle-Bellevue area ranks ninth in the country for the most car thefts. Of the cars most often stolen, older Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords top the list. Older Saturn SL's aren't far behind -- ranked seventh.

"One of the common ways crooks start the vehicles is they use a shaved key - a master key that they file down to get in," said Everett's crime prevention officer, Steve Paxton. "It's the older ignition locks on a lot of these vehicles."

Paxton says The Club really does work. Most thieves will move on when they see one.

He also says it's not that uncommon to have a car stolen from church, or anywhere else where there are scheduled meetings.

"They all go in for two or three hours and all come out at the same time. That leaves a window of time where no one is out there watching the parking lot," said Paxton.

Green's Saturn is still missing. She hopes someone spots it and calls police. A little boy is counting on it.

It's dark teal green with a car seat in the back. It has driver's side mirror that is obviously from another car.

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