By Shara Wallace and Steve Shay
HIGHLINE TIMES

Des Moines mailman gets probation
Former Des Moines mailman Charles Wright, a Postal Service employee for 34 years, and Army veteran, was sentenced Wednesday, April 10, in U.S. District Court to 60 hours of community service and fined $500. Wright will spend two years on probation and also is required to pay back $469 he was caught stealing from postal customers.
Wright, 57, was caught last year stealing gift cards from dozens of letters sent to residents along his Des Moines area route. He used stolen cash to buy marijuana, which he then smoked instead of delivering the rest of the mail he was paid to carry. He pleaded guilty in January to opening and destroying mail from numerous customers between July 2010 and July 2012. Wright searched for greeting cards in his bag, which he opened, then tore up and tossed away the cards.
He was confronted about the thefts on July 26, 2012, and quickly confessed. In a letter to the court, Wright apologized for his actions, which he described as a “horrific error in judgment.” “As I sit here today I really don’t have a reason for the crime I committed other than straight up stupidity, not realizing at the time all of the people I would be hurting,” Wright wrote in the letter. “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would ever be in this situation,” he continued. “I have truly had a blessed life."

Fugitive caught in Burien
U.S. marshals arrested Hung Minh Pham April 8 in Burien. The King County Sheriff's Office had a $1 million warrant out for Hung Minh Pham, believed to frequent the White Center area. He was reported to be homeless. He was wanted for arson. He is suspected of starting the fire in an abandoned house at 2413 S.W. Roxbury.

Car break-ins, vandalism, prowlers and theft
2600 blk S. 122nd, 15200 blk 6th Ave. S.W., 12200 blk Shorewood Dr., 16200 blk 12th Ave. S.W., 11200 blk 26th Ave. S.W., 15000 blk 1st Ave. S., 100 blk S.W. 148th St., 13200 blk 2nd Ave. S., 14200 blk 1st Ave. S., 14900 blk 32nd Pl. S., 14200 blk 28th Ave. S., 12600 blk Des Moines Memorial Dr., 13700 blk 12th Ave. S.W., 15500 blk 6th Ave. S.

Residential burglaries and break-ins
13900 blk 5th Pl. S., 400 blk S.W. 126th, 600 blk S.W. 145th St., 15700 blk 12th S.W., 1000 blk S. 117th St., 200 blk S. 156th St., 13400 blk Military Rd. S., 800 blk S.W. 156th St., 600 blk S.W. 139th St., 100 blk S. 160th St., 800 blk S.W. 126th St., 11900 blk Ambaum Blvd. S.W., 13300 blk Des Moines Memorial Dr., 18900 blk 4th Ave. S.