Store management had become suspicious of the woman and security video showed the woman stealing money from a cash register on one occasion. When management confronted the woman, she admitted to stealing cash from the store and also making false lottery ticket redemptions in which she pocketed the cash. The woman told police that she had started stealing money from the store after she had been kicked out of the house where she had been living the previous month and had no where to live.
Here are some of the other cases Anacortes Police worked on last week.
Friday, April 12
2:50 pm. A forest green colored Canondale 21-speed mountain bike valued at $300 was stolen from where it had been left parked at the Middle School overnight. The victim discovered that the security chain had been cut and the bike was missing when he returned the next morning.
Saturday, April 13
12:49 am. An officer observed a vehicle weaving over the fog line on 12th Street and then learned that registered owner of the vehicle had a suspended driver’s license. The officer stopped the car and contacted the 46-year-old Anacortes man who was the vehicle owner and driver. The driver smelled strongly of intoxicants and had droopy watery eyes. He failed field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest for drunk driving. The man told the officer that he had “eight beers” and was “completely screwed” because this was his “third DUI arrest in the past five years.” The driver also told the officer that he had planned on calling a cab after he finished drinking, but that he couldn’t get a hold of a cab so he decided to drive home. He also told the officer that he “had a problem with driving, not drinking.” The man provided breath samples during processing that were almost twice the legal limit. He was cited for DUI.
3:35 pm. An Acer Netbook computer valued at $300 was stolen from an unlocked SUV that was parked behind a building in the 1100 block of 12th Street. No suspects at this time.
10:58 pm. An officer observed a pickup quickly accelerate from a parking lot in to the 1000 block of 5th Street and then fail to use its turn signals during three separate turns. The pickup also was speeding and weaving as it traveled westbound on 6th Street and at one point it was partially driving through a parking strip. The officer stopped the pickup in the 500 block of I Avenue and identified the driver as a 37-year-old Guemes Island man. The man told the officer that he had not used his turn signal only twice, not the three times the officer said. The man smelled strongly of intoxicants, but he told the officer that he had not been drinking. The officer advised the man again that he could smell intoxicants, but the man then refused to answer when asked how much he had to drink. The man also declined to perform field sobriety tests. Based upon the officer’s observations, the man was placed under arrest for drunk driving. The man displayed very poor balance, and at one point an officer had to put a hand on the man’s back to prevent from falling backwards. During processing, the man refused to take the breath test. The man was issued a citation for DUI and released to a sober friend.
Sunday, April 14
11:56 am. A Sawzall, an impact drill, and a small angle grinder were stolen from an unlocked storage shed in the 400 block of 5th Street sometime during the previous week. The loss was estimated at approximately $450.
12:22 pm. A car driven by a 31-year-old Bellingham woman failed to stop in time for traffic that had slowed in the 2700 block of Oakes Avenue and rear ended the car in front of it. A female passenger in the Bellingham woman’s car suffered a possible broken arm and was transported to the emergency room for treatment. No one else involved in the accident was injured. The Bellingham woman did receive a traffic ticket for “following too closely.”
8:32 pm. An unlocked garage door was believed to have been the point of entry for a daytime burglary that occurred at a home in the 2300 block of 32nd Street. The residents had only been gone a few hours when they returned home and discovered that someone had entered their home and stolen an iPad and a small amount of cash. There are no suspects at this time.
Monday, April 15
10:17 am. Police were asked to check on an unoccupied residence in the 1100 block of 11th Street to ensure no one was “squatting” on the property. Officers discovered that a garage door had been kicked in and broken to pieces. Police searched the home, but found no one present although there were some items of food and pillows in the garage that indicated someone had been possibly staying there. Officers later spoke with two Anacortes area transients who had been mentioned as possible suspects, but they both denied any involvement.
Tuesday, April 16
2:19 pm. A man returned to his home in the 1200 block of 6th Street and discovered a window to his garage door had been broken which allowed the door to be unlocked and his house to be entered. Inspection of the home revealed that someone had stolen a laptop computer, a digital camera, and a cell phone from inside. No suspects at this time.
Wednesday, April 17
12:31 am. A 32-year-old Bow area man was arrested out of a vehicle that was parked in the 2800 block of Commercial Avenue after an officer confirmed the man had a warrant out of Anacortes Municipal Court for possession of stolen property. During a search of the man, the officer located a single loose prescription pill in the man’s jacket pocket. The man claimed that the pill was not his and that he had just bought the jacket at a used clothing store. The pill was determined to be a controlled substance that was prescription only. The man was issued a criminal citation for possession of a legend drug without a prescription and released on the warrant after being given a new court date as the jail would not take him due to overcrowding. A second man in the car was identified as a 25-year-old Sedro-Woolley resident. He had a warrant for his arrest out of Mount Vernon Municipal Court for theft. He was also placed under arrest and later released after being given a new court date.
10:52 am. A 73-year-old Anacortes woman who parked her SUV in a lot in the 7600 block of State Route 20 accidentally shifted the vehicle in reverse rather than park. The vehicle then rolled backwards and struck the woman after she exited it, causing her to be knocked over. The vehicle also ran over her foot causing a possible injury. The woman’s SUV continued to roll backwards across the parking lot and struck two occupied parked cars. No one in the other vehicles was injured.
1:48 pm. Someone broke the padlock securing a garage in the 1200 block of 35th Street that had been converted into a storage unit and rummaged through several containers inside. Items discovered stolen were a tile saw and some model teeth that contained approximately an ounce of gold fillings. The model teeth were from a dental business the victims owned several years earlier.
4:12 pm. An 18-year-old Mount Vernon man was arrested for shoplifting at a grocery store in the 900 block of 11th Street after employees saw him take approximately $66.00 worth of food items out of the store without paying. The man told an officer that he had intended to steal the items even though he had enough money is his wallet that he had left in his car to pay. The man was issued a citation for theft and released.
Thursday, April 18
2:23 am. Police responded to the report of a prowler at a home in the 1600 block of 10th Street after a woman reported that she had seen a man looking in her bedroom window and then found a handheld radio outside of the window. The woman said that she had been awakened by the static from the radio. The woman told police that she believed the man she saw was a 50-year-old Mount Vernon man who was barred from having contact with her through an active no-contact order. The order prohibited the man from following, stalking, or harassing the woman. The woman said that the man had also called her cell phone earlier in the night. The man had two previous no-contact order arrests and a stalking arrest in which the woman was the victim. Police located the man driving away about a block from the woman’s home. The man claimed to have been sleeping in his vehicle although the soles of his shoes were wet and he had a pair of binoculars on the dash. The man claimed that he had “no idea” he had violated the court order. He was placed under arrest for the court order violation and his vehicle was seized so police could apply for a search warrant to retrieve two cell phones that were visible inside of the vehicle. The man was booked into jail for investigation of felony violation of a no-contact order.
8:55 am. A man who parked his bike in the 900 block of 10th Street and entered a business for ten minutes returned to find his root beer-colored Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike had been stolen. The bicycle had not been locked.
2:37 pm. A 36-year-old Anacortes man was arrested in charges of domestic violence assault after he allegedly struck his girlfriend with an open car door while he was backing her car at their residence in the 4000 block of H Avenue. The couple had been arguing at the residence when the man went to leave driving the woman’s car. The man stopped the car momentarily after the woman repeatedly yelled “stop” at which time she opened a right side door. The woman reported that she told the man to get out of her car, but that he allegedly made eye contact with her and then intentionally backed up causing the car door to strike the woman in the leg and knock her to the ground. The man then yelled at the woman and accused her of trying “to kill herself.” The man was later arrested and booked into jail.
Friday, April 19
2:01 am. An officer contacted a 47-year-old Anacortes man in the 800 block of 26th Street after he had seen the man driving and confirmed the man’s driving status was suspended. The man admitted that he knew he shouldn’t have been driving and that he had a pipe he used for smoking methamphetamine in his pocket. The man was placed under arrest and police located the pipe and also found a baggy containing suspected methamphetamine in the man’s pant pocket. The man claimed that he had forgotten about the meth and that he “would have smoked it” if he had remembered it was in his pocket. The man was released but he faces a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended driver’s license.
7:46 am. Police responded to a convenience store at Sharpe’s Corner to remove an unwanted man who had been loitering in the store for approximately two hours and refusing to leave. The man was reportedly making the clerk and customers uncomfortable and afraid for their safety due to his mumbling to himself and pacing the aisles while holding large beverage bottles. Officers arrived and repeatedly asked the man to leave and he eventually walked towards the front door. However, as he neared the front door, he turned away from it and said he wasn’t leaving. Officers took a hold of the man’s arms in an effort to escort him outside and he aggressively pulled away and began to struggle with the officers. The man was told he was under arrest, but repeatedly ignored commands to put his hands behind his back and continued to fight with the officers. The officers used a taser on the man and he became compliant with their requests. The 30-year-old Oak Harbor resident appeared to be possibly under the influence of drugs and he repeatedly kicked at the doors and windows of the police car after he was placed inside. He was transported to the county jail and booked on charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest.
8:01 am. A Honda passenger car was stolen during the night from a home in the 1900 block of 9th Street. The car had inadvertently been left unlocked with the keys inside. The car was equipped with a vehicle theft locating system that police used to track the missing car to an alleyway about a block from the victim’s home the next morning. The vehicle was undamaged and returned to its owner, but the suspect(s) are unknown.