Thieves make off with barber poles in Seattle

An item that can fetch a lot of money in pawn shops has become the object of a series of thefts in Seattle.

No, it's not laptops, iPods or stereos. It's barber poles.

Three barber shops in Ballard and Capitol Hill saw the rotating red, white and blue poles outside their businesses disappear in the space of about two weeks.

The two stolen in Ballard were recovered and returned to their rightful owners after a woman was discovered selling them to an antique store. One pole is still missing, and police don't know whether the disappearance of the third pole is linked to the first two.

It all started the night of Aug. 2 at Smitty's Barber Shop in Ballard. When employees got to work the next morning, they found the antique pole was missing from its bracket outside the shop.

Then, the morning of Aug. 10, Ballard Barber Shop owner Bob Morris opened up his shop, two blocks from Smitty's, and hours later noticed that his 20-year-old pole outside was missing. He said he suspected the thief stole it for the money. It's worth about $650, he said.

On Aug. 17, police recovered the two Ballard poles from the Seattle Antiques Market below Pike Place, where the alleged thief was caught on video selling them. Police arrested the woman, but she is not in custody now, according to the Seattle City Attorney's Office. It is uncertain whether she will be charged in connection with the two incidents. Prosecutors say they have not yet received paperwork about them from the police.

On Aug. 18, Tim Collins, owner of Tim's Barber Shop in Capitol Hill, arrived at work to find that someone had unbolted his 50-year-old pole from the wall.

Collins said he'll eventually buy a new pole if the old one doesn't turn up, and next time he'll use bolts a thief can't unscrew.

"I thought about maybe wiring it up with 110-volt wires, and then we'd find out who was trying to steal it — because they'd be lying on the ground in the corner," Collins joked.

Jill Kimball: 206-464-2136 or jkimball@seattletimes.com