Liquor Thefts and a Molotov Cocktail: The Latest from UP Police

JULY 8, 2013

Liquor Theft: Police responded to Trader Joes for a liquor theft at approximately 3:21 p.m. An employee was chasing the teen suspect on foot. Police caught up with them on Sunset Drive West. The 17 year-old was placed into police custody. He had a hard time remembering his address and tried to trick the officers by spelling his own name wrong. Police recovered the bottle of alcohol near the apartment complex behind the Green Firs shopping center. He was booked at Remann Hall for third degree theft and minor in possession.

JULY 7, 2013

Liquor Theft: Police responded to Trader Joes for a liquor theft at 2:21 p.m. The employee said he saw a man conceal a bottle of scotch in his hoodie and run out of the store, where his friend was waiting for him. Police confronted the suspects on Sunset Drive West and they were identified as the perpetrators. The $60 bottle of scotch was recovered in the bushes behind Trader Joes.

JULY 6, 2013

Counterfeit Money: A Safeway employee reported that two people came through her checkout line a couple days prior. The man gave her a counterfeit $100 bill. She thought the bill felt funny in her hand but still gave him change. The couple returned to the store a few days later and was arrested for forgery and driving with a suspended license. Several family members arrived at the scene and began causing problems, and one man had to be arrested for obstructing justice.

JULY 5, 2013

Liquor Theft: Police responded to Safeway at 7:13 a.m. for a report of alcohol theft. The suspect was caught on surveillance footage stealing two bottles of alcohol by hiding them in his pants waistband and jacket. When the loss prevention employee confronted him about the theft, he said “touch me, and I will kill you.” The employee backed off and the man left the store and left the scene in a white Chevy Impala. He is described as a black male, about 6 feet tall with slight facial hair, approximately 20 years old.

Liquor Theft: At approximately 10 p.m. officers confronted a suspected liquor thief in the roundabout at 40th St. W. and Dexter Drive W. She was carrying two bottles of vodka and admitted to stealing them from Albertsons. She had tools in her purse used to remove store security devices. When asked where she was going with the alcohol, she replied she “was going to get drunk.” The alcohol was returned to Albertsons and she was booked in jail for retail theft.

JULY 4, 2013

Intoxicated Minors on School Property: At 2:40 a.m. officers responded to Narrows View Intermediate for a noise complaint involving apparently drunk teenagers. Two subjects were located outside the portables with a bottle of vodka and over a dozen bottle rockets. They were both arrested for minor in possession. One of the youths gave police a fake name—he told police he lied because he was scared, even though he didn’t have a record. They were transported to jail and the fireworks were destroyed by police.

JUNE 29, 2013

Domestic Fight Involving Weapon: A woman called UP Police at 1:30 a.m. to report that she got in a fight with her live-in boyfriend over text messages he found on her cell phone. He grabbed her phone, broke it, threw it in the toilet and tried to block her from leaving. He was very intoxicated and refused to let her go, so she grabbed a gun from her nightstand and pointed it at him. He tried to grab it from her but she managed to get away. He was arrested at their home and transported to jail for domestic assault, unlawful imprisonment and interfering with the report of a domestic violence incident. She completed her statement and told police she was seeking a restraining order and planned to move out.

JUNE 26, 2013

Shoplifting: A woman confronted at Fred Meyer for attempting to steal over $300 in child clothes. She told police she went to the store with no money and the intent to steal clothes for her boyfriend’s son. She was cited for shoplifting.

Explosives: An officer was dispatched to a home on 61st Ave. West after a couple reported finding a Molotov cocktail near their fence. The wife told police she was picking up trash on her property that runs along 45th St. W. when she found a glass olive oil bottle with paper sticking out of the top. She smelled fuel and realized someone had tried to light the paper. She showed it to her husband, who identified it as a Molotov cocktail based on his military experience. The officer took the explosive into police custody for destruction.