Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Serial shoplifting suspect arrested in Gig Harbor

Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police and Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One.

Gig Harbor officers arrested a man who employees said has stolen about a $1 million worth of merchandise from Target stores around the region in recent months.

Officers issued a citation to the suspect, a 45-year-old Tacoma man. Police from Federal Way, where the man is the subject of an arrest warrant, met local officers to take custody of the suspect.

In the March 11 incident at the Gig Harbor store, officers wrote that the suspect took about $700 worth of unpaid merchandise.

The suspect told officers he planned to sell the goods to support his drug habit.

In the Gig Harbor incident and others, he did not drive a car to the store. Officers arrested him at a bus stop. He apparently planned to board a bus to take the merchandise back to Tacoma.

Wrong-way driver in roundabout

A white SUV driving the wrong direction through the roundabout on Burnham Drive at Highway 16 hit another vehicle on the morning of March 12. Nobody involved reported injuries.

Earlier that morning, the white SUV fled from a Washington State Patrol trooper on westbound Highway 16. The SUV got back on westbound Highway 16 after the collision. A WSP trooper caught up to the car again on Highway 16 near Port Orchard. It once again failed to stop.