Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, November 18, 2011
www.issaquahreporter.com
Key suspect nabbed in Eastside crime ring Hundreds of homes targeted over two years BY CELESTE GRACEY CGRACEY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Bill Southwell has turned the iconic 1960s round building on Maple Street into a coffee shop called Mondos. Southwell got started in the coffee business at the same time as Starbucks and Tully’s, but life led him down a different path. CELESTE GRACEY,
Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
SPILLING THE BEANS Issaquah’s newest entrepreneur recalls the rise of the espresso industry
M
aple Street’s round 1960s building has been many things in its life. It first opened as a hamburger shop with a large rotating sign centered on top. Later, it turned in the home of the 12th Ave. Cafe, a coffee shop, a Mexican restaurant and, most recently, another burger joint. A serious tenant hasn’t
settled in the unusual space in a decade, at least not one as passionate as Bill Southwell. He opened his third Mondo’s in the iconic Issaquah space this fall. An original espresso man, he joined the coffee trade in the 1980s, about the same time Howard Shultz first bought Starbucks. In spite of Southwell’s tales of success in riding the rise of the espresso bar,
Home of the Cowboy Rib Steak & Baseball Top Sirlion • Rib Roast • Steaks For The Grill 20+ Varieties of Fresh Sausages Our own Beef Jerky, Turkey Jerky, Pepperoni & Chicken Pepperoni
his story landed him in a humbler place, but with a happier family. When he first decided to leave lawyering, he made plans to open a take-andbake pizza place. That plan was set aside when he met Joe Monoghan, now the U.S. president of La Marzocco. At the time Monoghan was importing coffee bars and beans from Italy. Southwell figured that he could open three espresso bars for the same cost of one pizza place. “The movement was just getting started,” he said. “It OPEN MON - SAT 9am - 6pm
538846
BY CELESTE GRACEY CGRACEY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Issaquah’s Quality Meat Since 1910
www.fischermeatsnw.com
85 Front Street N, Issaquah • 425.392.3131
was intoxicating, and it was just fun.” He had opened six Piccolo’s when he first met Shultz, who only had about eight. Southwell recalls teasing Shultz that someday they might be competitors. “They didn’t look that big.” At the time Starbucks had a deal with Peet’s Coffee that it wouldn’t cross into California for five years. Southwell took advantage of the deal, and opened several espresso bars down south. His momentum was fast and in a few years he had opened about 40 Piccolo’s. The growth of the company came to a halt when his VP of operations, Dick Steinbock, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. SEE COFFEE, 21
Sammamish Police arrested a key suspect in an Eastside crime ring, which is allegedly responsible for hundreds of home burglaries in the past two years. Prosecutors allege that James Franklin Kennemer, 26, used his background in tree trimming to scope out homes to break into. If homeowners answered the door, he pretended to solicit a sale, but if they were gone he’d break in through a back entrance, said Sgt. Jessica Sullivan, from the Sammamish Police Department. Kennemer didn’t raise suspicions, because he had tree trimming experience, she said. “They could talk the talk if someone answered the door.” He’s been charged with burglarizing at least five homes in Sammamish, Bothell, Redmond and Woodinville. He was also charged with stealing firearms, unlawful possession of a firearm, possessing stolen property and trafficking stolen property, according to the charging papers. After his arrest, police drove him around various neighborhoods, where he voluntarily pointed out homes he remembered burglarizing, Sullivan said. Kennemer had been arrested in connection to a Sammamish burglary in April. It’s yet unknown whether charges were filed in that case. He told police before the April arrest, he burglarized about three homes a day for two years, according to the papers. While Kennemer was known to several police departments, Sammamish broke the case when they found some stolen jewelry had been sold. The jewelry belonged to a Sammamish woman, whose bedroom was ransacked Sept. 28. She reported about $210,000 in missing gold pieces from India. About a week later, police learned that Kennemer’s girlfriend, who hasn’t been charged, sold some of the gold at a jewelry shop in Federal Way. The Reporter doesn’t name suspects who haven’t been charged. Kennemer told police he didn’t break into the Sammamish home, but he went to pick up the man who did. The man pulled out a pillowcase so stuffed with jewelry, it looked like it had a basketball in it, according to the papers. The man has yet to be charged. So far the only evidence in his involvement is a statement from Kennemer. Kennemer went with the man’s girlfriend to sell about $17,000-worth of the jewelry that day. SEE CRIME RING, 8