EVERETT — A couple from King County is facing an armed robbery charge after a Sept. 4 shoplifting incident in Everett ended with a security officer being cut with a knife.
The case began when a man tried to steal items from the Home Depot along Highway 99 just south of Everett. A loss-prevention worker confronted the would-be shoplifter and the struggle ended with the employee stabbed in the back of his left hand.
The wound required stitches to close, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Elise Deschenes said in court papers.
The thief jumped into a Hyundai and sped away, but not before another employee managed to write down the license plate number.
A Snohomish County sheriff’s detective tracked down the vehicle’s owner, who said the car was driven by her daughter, 24. The woman said her daughter has a boyfriend, 23. That man’s physical description matched the shoplifter’s, court papers said.
The young woman agreed to speak with the detective. She showed up late for the interview and clearly was nervous.
“Her face was flushed, her hands and voice trembled and (the detective) could even hear her breath trembling as she breathed,” the prosecutor wrote.
She initially told the detective that she’d given a ride to a stranger who had agreed to pay for gas, and that when she dropped him off at Home Depot, he suddenly showed back up and said he was being chased and ordered her to drive away.
The detective showed her images of the shoplifter recovered from surveillance video.
She said that was the stranger.
The detective then showed her a booking photo of her boyfriend, which resembled the man on video.
He has multiple convictions for theft.
The woman reportedly admitted that she’d been lying, and that her boyfriend had told her to tell detectives about giving the stranger a ride.
“He has way more experience at this than I do. That’s why I’m so bad at it,” the woman was quoted as saying.
She allegedly admitted driving her boyfriend to roughly a dozen similar shoplifting incidents in exchange for drugs.
The two are charged in Snohomish County Superior Court with first-degree robbery while armed with a deadly weapon.
Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com.
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