All suspects in the police blotter are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
SHOPLIFTING: At 4:13 p.m. Sept. 21, an officer was dispatched to a theft call from the T-Mobile Store. An employee arrived for work when he witnessed a teenaged suspect running from the store. He was told by coworkers the suspect had taken a cellphone from the wall. The employee followed the suspect around the building until he escaped in a car. It drove west as the employee made a 911 call. The officer asked that the employee request copies of surveillance footage from Loss Prevention. The vehicle owner information was pulled from the license plate information, but the car was not found in the area.
BURGLARY: At 11:20 a.m. Sept. 25, an officer responded to a 70th Street East residence in reference to a stolen laptop. The homeowner noticed her daughter’s laptop missing the day before; the daughter told her mother she hadn’t seen the laptop since the prior Friday. It had been left on a nightstand in back of the house, where there is a door to the outside which doesn’t lock. The homeowner said it seemed an unknown suspect had entered from that door. No other property was taken. There were no suspects at the time of the report, but the officer entered the laptop serial number in the WACIC/NCIC database.
STOLEN GAS: At 10:22 a.m. Sept. 26, an officer was dispatched to Ben Franklin Crafts to take a report regarding theft of gasoline. The reporting party told the officer unknown suspects had cut the fuel line on a truck behind the business, stealing 25 gallons of gasoline. The officer confirmed this with an examination of the truck; the reporting party said it had been three-quarters full when employees left work the night before. She said her manager would provide suspect information upon review of security tapes.
MINOR IN POSSESSION: At 1:40 a.m. Sept. 28, an officer witnessed an 18-year-old male staggering behind the Goodwill with a bottle of liquor in his hand. The man was walking westbound on the shopping center’s access road until he saw the officer and turned in the opposite direction, placing the bottle under his sweatshirt. The officer called in a second unit and contacted the man. The smell of alcohol was immediately evident and his eyes were droopy. The man said he was looking for his friend’s phone and then going home. He was slurring and unsteady on his feet. When asked, he told the officer he was 18; he was placed under arrest for being a minor in possession of alcohol. The suspect resisted arrest, breaking free of an officer hold and running away into the woods. Officers chased the suspect through the woods until he reemerged near where he had entered. Two officers managed to detain him as he became increasingly unsteady in his stride. He continued to be uncooperative during the arrest, but he was eventually booked into Buckley Jail.
PUSHY PETITIONERS: At 1:16 p.m. Sept. 30, an officer was dispatched to a report of signature gatherers being aggressive with customers and refusing to leave the premises of the Walmart. Walmart management told the officer a pair of persons had set up a table (regarding Genetically Modified Organisms) without authorization, and were being hostile to customers who would not sign their petition. The officer contacted the petitioners. One of the signature gatherers argued they had a Constitutional right to gather signatures at the spot and that they had spoken with the City Prosecutor to confirm; she could not provide the prosecutor’s name when asked. During the officer contact she remained on the phone with her organization’s supervisors. They left the scene moments later and the petitioner said the police would be hearing from her supervisors.
MORE GAS THEFT: At 3:17 p.m. Oct. 1, an officer was dispatched to a Pacific Pride address regarding a gasoline theft. The owner reported the theft of 270 gallons of gasoline from storage tanks on Sept. 28, sometime around 2:34 a.m. The owner said the same subject had stolen gase using the same methodology as in the past; the suspected person pulls into the parking lot with license plate obstructed and parks over the fuel tanks before siphoning their contents. Surveillance footage was grainy, but he said the vehicle was a newer Ford van with two ladders mounted on top. There were no known suspects at the time of the report, but the owner said he had outfitted alarms on the tanks and he would contact police if they went off in the future.
VEHICLE PROWL: At 7:50 p.m. Oct. 3, a citizen called to report her car had been broken into while parked on 111th Street Court East. The owner had parked at the spot almost seven hours prior while visiting at the address, and when she left she discovered the glove box open. Her gas card, sunglasses, a ring and the key fob to the vehicle were missing. The vehicle had been unlocked. No suspects at the time of the report.
