A 25-year-old homeless woman was arrested Thursday, May 2 after being caught stealing from a Santa Monica Rite-Aide store.
At 9 am officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to the store at 2412 Pico Boulevard in order to apprehend a suspected thief who had been reported as having just stolen several items and had fled the store towards the vicinity of Virginia Park.
When officers arrived they spotted this female suspect walking through the middle of the park. As the officers approached the woman she ran off.
The officers grabbed hold of her (the long arm of the law?) and the woman continued her attempt to flee by pulling away from the officers. The woman was unsuccessful in this, and the officers placed her in handcuffs.
The officers then spoke with the loss prevention agents at Rite-Aid who told them that they had seen this woman enter the store and had immediately recognized her as someone who had attempted to steal from the store a few days earlier but at that time they had caught her.
On this occasion the loss prevention agents had noticed that the woman had stuffed several items under her sweater and left the store.
The loss prevention agents then followed her out of the store and asked her to return the items.
The woman then rushed past the loss prevention agent and reached the sidewalk.
The woman then turned and looked at the loss prevention agent and told him that she was “going to pop” him.
The loss prevention agent, fearful of being “popped” by this woman backed off and called the police.
The officers recovered the stolen property and this homeless woman was arrested and charged with robbery, and a probation violation.
Bail was not granted.
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.
