By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Last Thursday, Theo Martin, owner of Island Soul Rum Bar and Soul Shack in Columbia City, had to make some quick pivots in order to fulfill a catering job that he had schedule for the day, as the restaurants delivery truck was stolen and vandalized while it was parked just one block away from the establishment. Martin uses the van to support deliveries and pickups for both Island Soul and its sister restaurant, Arlena’s in Kirkland.
In response, Martin had to utilize personal vehicles (did this include cars of his staff) in order to fulfill his catering obligation.
In addition, Martin’s son’s car, which was parked in the same parking lot, was also vandalized.
“Around three o’clock in the afternoon my son called and told me that someone had broken out the windows of his car and the van was stolen, and I was like what,” says Martin. “This is a gated area that we pay to park our vehicles at night and we can lock them up and for me as a company to have the van so close for catering is convenient.”
In addition to calling and filing a police report, Martin placed an awareness post on social media asking the community for help in locating the vehicle.
Unfortunately, Martin is not alone with it comes to being a victim of vehicle theft in Seattle. Since the pandemic auto thefts have been on the rise although between 2023 and 2024 the region has seen a slight decline. A study on pandemic-era crime trends found that motor-vehicle theft in Seattle had actually increased 73% from 2019 to 2022.
In King County, 1,393 cars were reported stolen in January of this year.
Fortunately for Martin, a frequent customer responded to his call to action and reported that they saw the vehicle parked in West Seattle. Unfortunately, the car had been vandalized and the perpetrators had painted over the restaurant’s logos that were on the van. But for Martin the inconvenience of only having to replace cosmetic functions of the van far outweighs the notion of having to replace the entire van.
“I got my car back on Friday,” says Martin. “One of our customers found it, we put it on social media, she said, she saw it on 16th SW and when the police came to my house at 7 o’clock that night, I told them and that following morning the police called and said they have the van.”
“We have what is called a “wrap” around the vehicle which says Island Soul and they painted over that,” added Martin. “At least in general all we have to do is peel that off and then we will get another wrap design for it, and of course the insurance will pay for this.”
Fortunately, the parking lot had video surveillance to aid in the investigation, yet it is still unclear if the offender can be identified.
“I have it on tape,” says Martin. “I do have it on tape and show a man stealing the car. The building where the van was parked has a video system and the angle did show much as he was hooded.”
“The thing is it happened at 1:30 in the afternoon, in broad daylight, on a sunny day, you couldn’t miss it for the world you know. Its crazy how a person could do this, but once again this is where we are,” Martin adds.
The good Samaritan theory is always a plus and the Martin family expressed a debt of gratitude when an Island Soul customer discovered their van in a West Seattle neighborhood.
“Somebody took the time to respond to our social media “shout out” that our vans missing and we had a response in two and half hours,” recalls Martin. “Those are the things that if everyone were to stop and look or to stop and say something, do something, but to do nothing puts us further and further backwards. But to say something lets people know that I am being watched.”