Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Police Blotter | Officers find gun when suspect asks him to retrieve his meds

Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police , Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One  and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

An officer checking on the welfare of three people passed out in a running car at Crescent Creek Park found a possibly stolen firearm and a cache of illegal drugs.

A passerby noticed three people asleep inside a running Toyota Carmy around 3:30 p.m. Aug. 8 at the popular local park. Officers could see drugs, paraphernalia and a knife inside. Multiple families were playing in the park on the sunny Thursday afternoon.

When they awoke the three people in the car, they noticed that one of them had “significant wounds” to his stomach, legs arms and hands. The wounded man said the injuries were from a dog attack.

That same man was also the registered owner of the Camry, and he declined to provide permission for officers to search the car. He did, however, ask officers to retrieve antibiotics prescribed after the dog attacks. While getting the medicine out of the glove compartment, an officer found a Glock handgun, though all three occupants of the vehicle claimed no guns were inside.

Gig Harbor Police posted this image on Facebook showing items recovered from a car at Crescent Creek Park last week.

Officers cited the three suspects and released them at the scene. An officer later examined the Glock and found that the serial number appeared to have been altered.

After obtaining a search warrant, officers found another gun, over 200 grams of methamphetamine, 960 fentanyl pills, other drugs, currency, and what GHPD described as “packaging consistent with distribution of narcotics.”

Officers arrest ‘daily’ shoplifter

A Gig Harbor officer arrested 25-year-old Tacoma man whom employees described as a “daily shoplifter” on July 28 at a department store on Point Fosdick Drive.

The store employees told police they do not report the thefts because store policy does not permit them to do so. The told the officer that during previous thefts the suspect had been “very frank” with them and made “them aware that he is stealing their merchandise.” He left a loaded handgun in a fitting room on one occasion.

The officer apprehended the 25-year-old when, while patrolling the parking lot, he saw the suspect set off theft alarms and walk out of the store with a duffel bag full of merchandise.

The officer found fentanyl, methamphetamine and paraphernalia when he searched the suspect. Officers booked the suspect into the Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of theft.

Loud music leads to jail time

A Gig Harbor officer arrested a 25-year-old man for disturbing the peace, the sort of offense that usually draws only a warning, around 1:30 a.m. July 17. Perhaps because the suspect had already assured the officer that he’d quiet down for the night.

A neighbor on Sawtooth Court called police to report extremely loud music around 10 p.m. July 16. The officer spoke with the 25-year-old, who said he’d be going to bed soon — in part because he had a court date the following morning.

But the same officer was called back to the same home a few hours later. The 25-year-old was still blasting music from his car, and it was keeping a neighbor’s young children awake.

The officer found the suspect sleeping in the car. He arrested the 25-year-old and booked him into the Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of disturbing the peace. It’s unclear if the 25-year-old was released in time to make his court date.

Fake money, but a real crime

When officers arrested a 33-year-old shoplifting suspect outside a clothing store on Olympic Drive on Aug. 4, they found a fat stack of $20 bills in his pocket. However, most of the twenties were “prop money,” which the man said he uses for his music videos and carries around to motivate himself to make real money. Some of the money was marked with the words “prop copy.”

An officer noticed the man when he triggered an antitheft alarm while leaving the store. He had a basketful of unpaid merchandise.

The suspect apologized and offered to pay for the goods, but the officer told him it was too late for that. The suspect said he stole the items mostly for his young daughters, but the officer observed that most of what he took was men’s clothing.

Officers arrested the man on suspicion of theft and took him to the Kitsap County Jail.