Robbery suspect allegedly ate ID card. Police are waiting for the evidence to drop
Pierce County Jail deputies have been waiting for one of their inmates to produce identification.
It might be awhile.
The 34-year-old ingested the ID card as he was arrested, and deputies are monitoring him until it passes, according to charging papers filed Thursday.
It’s not his ID.
Rather, it belongs to the man the suspect believes to be his girlfriend’s lover. He robbed the fellow earlier this week in Tacoma, court records allege, taking the ID as part of the crime.
The alleged robber pleaded not guilty at arraignment Thursday to charges of second-degree robbery, violating a protection order, fourth-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment, first-degree theft, resisting arrest, obstructing police and several counts of violating a no contact order.
According to charging papers:
The defendant recently accused the mother of his children of seeing other people. He violated a no-contact order by going to her home, where they argued and he took her phone.
He also followed her into a bathroom, locked the door and refused to let her out. He repeatedly accused her of lying and at one point grabbed her by the hair.
Finally he told her: “You’re lucky the kids are here or I’d pistol whip you,” then left. He also turned up at her workplace, where he yelled at her until she told him that she would call security.
On Tuesday he went to the home of the person he believed was having a relationship with his girlfriend and demanded to see identification.
That man was confused by the defendant’s ranting — because they’d never met and the alleged cheater is married. But he produced an ID as asked, according to the court records, and the defendant snatched it from him.
Then the defendant said several men who were with him had guns, and he told the alleged cheater to give him his cellphone and cash.
There was no cash to be had, but the robber did flee with the cellphone, according to court records.
The next day officers arrested him after he was reportedly banging on a door, demanding to see his significant other.
He struggled with police.
When one of the officers found the robbery victim’s ID on him, the defendant started thrashing around in the snow, the records say.
Officers thought he was trying to wiggle away. Later they realized he’d managed to grab the card, chew it up and swallow the evidence.
Charging papers note that prosecutors might add additional charges and seek an evaluation as to whether the man qualifies as a “third strike offender,” which could mean life in prison.
Information about the ID card’s location as of Friday morning was not immediately available. A sheriff’s spokesman told The News Tribune that he would make an inquiry.
This story was originally published February 15, 2019 at 11:07 AM.
