Suspected robber accused of stealing alcohol from South Hill store, shoving employee
A man suspected of stealing at least six bottles of alcohol from a South Hill store is being held on $20,000 bail.
Pierce County prosecutors on Tuesday charged the 19-year-old with first-degree robbery and he pleaded not guilty.
Charging papers give this account:
On April 24, an employee at the store in the 1200 block of Meridian East noticed a man carrying a basket of merchandise and walking to the front door “as if he was on a mission,” records say.
The employee approached him and asked him to pay for the six bottles of liquor she spotted in the basket.
Instead, he allegedly shoved the female employee to the ground, causing her to hit her head.
The suspect ran, along with a woman who appeared to be carrying another alcohol bottle wrapped in a sweatshirt.
A customer was able to jot down the suspect’s license plate number.
The store’s owner posted surveillance footage of the robbery online and a tipster offered the suspect’s name. The owner then found the suspect’s social media page and noticed he was posting about alcohol bottles.
Detectives reviewed the video footage and in May tracked the suspect to the Puyallup jail, where he was being held on an unrelated charge.
When confronted about the robbery footage, the suspect said it was “someone else who looks just like him that lives in the area,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 8:47 AM.
