Two meth users were arrested for theft and possession after police were called out on Thursday, March 5, at 12:30 pm to attend to a report of armed robbery at the TJMaxx store, located at 1251 Fourth Street.
Upon arrival, officers of the Santa Monica Police Department detained a suspect as he was attempting to exit the store.
The officers then spoke with store security personnel who told them that the suspect, along with a second man, had entered the store and as these two men were walking around the store, the second man had removed his belt and replaced it with a belt that he had taken from a rack in the store.
The second man then attempted to exit the store whilst the suspect looked around, as if he was keeping a lookout.
The store security personnel then attempted to stop the second man and talk to him about the belt, but the second man pulled out a knife and threatened them with it.
The store personnel backed off at that time in order to avoid being stabbed.
The second man then ran away.
The officers then questioned the suspect to determine if he was involved in any way in the belt theft, and during the routine pat-down search the officers discovered a bag of methamphetamine in the suspect’s pocket.
The officers arrested this 22-year-old Los Angeles resident and he was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Bail was set at $1,000. The officers reviewed video surveillance footage and recognized the second man as being someone with whom they had had pervious encounters.
This man was arrested the following day by Culver City police officers after a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
He was later charged with theft, and being on possession of a pipe used for smoking methamphetamine, given that the pipe was found upon his person at the time of his arrest.
Bail for this 21-year-old was set at $50,000.
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.
