On Friday, Feb. 3, at 7 a.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department from the department’s Homeless Liaison Program went to the UCLA Santa Monica ER after receiving a report of a man who had made a number of recent visits to the ER concerning certain “medical issues.”
When the officers arrived they spoke with the man, whom they knew, in order to see if they could get him some help from the resources that were accessible that could possibly get him off the streets.
As the officers were speaking to this man they noticed that he was wearing a pair of sunglasses that still had the sales tag hanging off them.
The officers asked the man if he had any money, and he said that he was broke. Officers went to the Rite-Aid (the location indicated by the sales tag) located at 1801 Wilshire and spoke with the loss prevention agent who told them that this same man had been at the store earlier, and that he had tried to steal some beer.
The loss prevention agent said that they recovered the beer, but must have missed the sunglasses. Since the subject had not paid for the glasses he was arrested, and after being cleared by the doctors, was taken off to jail.
This 45-year-old homeless man was charged with receiving stolen property, petty theft, and a probation violation. He was not granted bail.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
