BOTHELL — A necklace snatcher’s spree was undone when a woman snatched back at a parking lot in Bothell, taking his chain in return, according to charging papers.
The King County man, 19, was charged with two counts of first-degree robbery for ripping necklaces from two women in April and June 2016, outside the same Fred Meyer.
One woman was loading groceries into her car April 29, when a man approached her from behind and grabbed her necklace, dragging her on the ground until the chain broke, court papers say. The robber was wearing a necklace, too. In the struggle, the woman was able to tear it from his neck.
DNA from the man’s necklace was taken to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.
In June, another robbery was reported at the same parking lot. A woman was walking home with her baby in a stroller around 8:20 p.m., when a man in a red shirt grabbed her neck from behind and yanked at her necklace, according to court papers. She struggled and the necklace broke in two. The man jumped into a black SUV.
Security camera images were televised on Washington’s Most Wanted in July. A tip from the public helped detectives identify the suspect as a man from Covington, southeast of Seattle.
The DNA from the robber’s necklace came back as a match to that man, according to the state crime lab.
Police are still investigating if the man is connected to three other robberies this summer. Minutes after the incident in June, two women were robbed at gunpoint by two men who exited in a black SUV in the Bothell area. One robber wore a red T-shirt. Two more women were robbed later in the day in Seattle. In July, robbers struck another woman at the Fred Meyer in Bothell.
All of the victims are East Indian women.
At the time he was charged last week, the Covington man was serving a 13-month prison sentence for promoting prostitution in Oregon.
Joseph Thompson: 425-339-3430; jthompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @JoeyJThomp.
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