Bail was denied to a 51-year-old transient on Sunday, Sept. 14 after violating his parole in the form of stealing shampoo from a Santa Monica Walgreen’s store.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to Walgreen’s at 1932 Wilshire Boulevard at 7:43 pm on this day in order to investigate a report of strong-armed robbery.
Upon arrival the officers spoke with an employee who told them that she had observed, with the assistance of an elevated security mirror, a man lift a bottle of shampoo from a shelf and conceal it in his personal bag.
The employee confronted this man and informed him that she would be happy to escort him to the register so that he could pay for the item.
The man agreed and followed the employee to the counter whereupon he removed the bottle of shampoo and placed it upon the counter.
At that point the employee scanned the item, but the man suddenly grabbed it and a physical altercation ensued between the man and the employee.
The man’s strength was evidently head and shoulders above the employee’s as he prevailed in the struggle and fled with the shampoo.
Other officers who were assisting with the call apprehended this man at the corner of 19th Street and Wilshire Boulevard and detained him. The officers searched this man’s bag and found that he had taken two bottles of shampoo along with some cans of beer.
Walgreen’s employees positively identified the man as the suspect. This man was charged with robbery and violation of probation.
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.
