'She had a little yoga mat, looked the part': Victim says thieves stole car keys at Seattle studio

SEATTLE – A high-end yoga studio client believes she was targeted by a pair of career criminals in Lululemon out to steal cars.

“I feel like it wasn’t the first time, it couldn’t have been the first time,” said Shea Norton. “This was an orchestrated event. There’s no doubt about it.”

Norton said she was headed to the 9:15 p.m. class at Shefayoga in Greenlake on Monday night, when the two women in front of her who were dressed for class and holding mats started acting strangely.

“They never checked in with the front desk,” she said. "There was one who came in right into the bathroom with the other girl who came in talking on her telephone.”



Norton said the two women waited until everyone was already in class, before turning around and leaving.

“The front desk gal said, ‘All of a sudden they decided, we’re not going to make class. We decided we’re a little too late to make class.’”

She said it wasn’t until after class that she noticed the woman talking on her phone was most likely the same woman who took her car keys to her silver 2004 Mercedes Benz Kompressor.

“That’s pretty tricky,” said Michelle Detrick, manager at OmCulture, a yoga studio in the same neighborhood.

Detrick said they recently upped security at their yoga studio based on reports of other businesses in the Green Lake neighborhood targeted by criminals.

“We have gatekeepers here at the desk and keep the door locked. I am here the entire time class is going on,” she said.

After reports of this theft at Shefayoga, she said, she’s glad they’ve taken the extra precautions. “You wouldn’t think that would happen there.”

That’s the false sense of security, said Norton, that got her into trouble.

“I can anticipate if I leave my purse in my car, I am asking for it. But in this neighborhood, it’s families. It’s very small community, it’s very tight-knit. I would never think to be prowled upon in this area,” she said.

Norton filed a police report with Seattle police. She said she hopes her car turns up in the next few days.