After break-ins and delays in follow-up, the owner said he found equipment online, recovered some items and is now calling on police and city leaders to act.
SEATTLE — A Seattle production company said it was hit again and again, losing more than $350,000 in cameras, computers and production gear, and after weeks without a detective assigned to the case, the owner said he decided he couldn’t wait any longer.
Colin Christianson, founder of Tenacious Ventures, said his studio was burglarized in November, then targeted twice more in the months that followed.
“November 21, 2025, was the big first burglary that we had, and then April 6 was the next big one that happened here at the studio. They couldn’t get in our door because of our reinforcements, but then they hit another business, Victory Studios, in the building, and then they tried again April 22,” he said, describing a pattern of break-ins and attempted entries caught on surveillance video.
After weeks without follow-up on the case, Christianson said he and others started spotting their stolen equipment listed for sale online.
“We see our gear on the marketplace, we see it out there being sold, we need to do something about that,” he said.
So they did.
Christianson said he and others in the creative community began tracking listings, coordinating with other businesses and, in some cases, posing as buyers to try and recover what they could.
He shared photos and videos with KING 5 showing what he said is some of that effort. He said they have given all photos, videos and documentation to Seattle police.
“This is one of the photos I took with my drone when we were following one of the people, and you can see close in the corner there, as he’s coloring on his bong, you can see here this is one of our Tenacious Ventures stickers wrapped around his steering wheel,” he said, showing the photo.
He said those efforts helped lead them to a storage unit they believe was being used to hold stolen gear.
“We were able to determine that the storage unit not far from our studio was the one they were using,” he said.
Some of the equipment also turned up elsewhere, including Pelican cases the company said were found in Queen Anne.
So far, Christianson said about $20,000 worth of equipment has been recovered.
Some of it was found by detectives at a pawn shop. Other pieces came from a storage unit, and some they bought back themselves.
Still, he said that recovery is only a fraction of what was taken and does not address what he believes is a bigger issue.
“There’s a slow process to assigning detectives, there’s only a handful of detectives within the Seattle Police Department, so definitely an understaffing that’s slowing down the whole process,” he said.
Christianson said he believes the same group is targeting multiple creative businesses across Seattle.
Now, he is working to bring others together.
He and other business owners are planning a meeting Friday, May 8, at 5:30 p.m., inviting police and city leaders to discuss what they said is a growing problem and how to stop it.
“The first step would be taking this crime group off the streets,” he said. “And then the second goal would be patching up the problems that impacted their ability to operate in the first place.”
And he has a message for those he believes are responsible.
“Your days are numbered,” he said. “This is not OK with the community.”
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