Man charged for impersonating Safeway agent, stealing $432K worth of crab

SEATTLE (KOMO) — A Florida man is facing federal charges after allegedly pretending to be a Safeway employee in Washington and ordering nearly a half-million dollars worth of crab in an effort to transport the seafood.

David Subil was indicted in U.S. District Court in Seattle in early March on interstate transportation of stolen property charges. Prosecutors say the operations began in January and continued in February.

According to prosecuting documents, the Stanwood Police Department told Homeland Security Investigations Blaine Sectoron Jan. 24 that a man pretending to be an agent of Safeway and Alberton's stole at least $432,000 of Russian king crab and Opolio crab in Stanwood.

Charging documents say Subil, believed to be fraudulently impersonating a Safeway employee named Christopher Delgado, sent fake purchase orders to Arctic Seafoods, a California-based seafood company, which sent the seafood to North Star Cold Storage in Stanwood.

Payments for the crab never went through, however, prosecutors say.

Deputies from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office located Subil at a weigh station south of Everett and discovered he sold some of the stolen seafood to a company in Florida.

Subil was arrested for driving under the influence and damage to property or a person by the South Miami (Florida) Police Department in October, charging documents say. On Feb. 7, officials connected Subil to the seafood heist, prosecutors say.

On Feb. 18, Subil booked a one-way ticket from Miami International Airport to Medellín, Colombia, for the following day, prosecutors say.

“According to (Customs and Border Protection) records, Subil has no international travel in the last five years,” charging documents say. “Subil has no known connection to Colombia. Based on my experience and the recent activity in this case, I believe this last-minute travel was booked in order to flee the country from potential prosecution.”