Community Police & Fire
Police Blotter: Officers arrest man with ‘obvious’ counterfeit bills
Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police and Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One.
Officers arrested a 54-year-old Tacoma man suspected of passing off several counterfeit $100 bills on Feb. 4.
The suspect used what officers said were “obvious” counterfeit bills to buy beauty products, cigarettes and other items at several stores in a shopping complex on Olympic Drive. Each individual transaction was for well less than $100, and the suspect collected his change in real currency.
A department store in the same complex finally noticed the counterfeit bills. An officer patrolling the parking lot, who had noticed the suspect acting suspiciously earlier, responded immediately.
After obtaining a warrant, officers searched the vehicle the suspect was using. Among many other items, they found an envelope with text in red ink reading “Not legal tender. Fake prop $.”
The suspect was booked into the Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of theft and counterfeiting charges.
Dog left in truck for 3 days
Employees at St. Anthony Hospital asked police to help a dog left inside a truck in the hospital parking lot for three days.
The truck belonged to a patient who had been admitted to the hospital and was not expected to be released soon. The owner of the dog said the pet was a stray that he had picked up in Vancouver.
Officers extricated the dog — described as “a very large, very angry black Lab mix” — from the vehicle on the afternoon of Feb 3. It immediately “urinated for approximately three minutes straight,” an officer wrote. The urine was dark, a sign of possible dehydration.
Once the dog was out of the truck and had relieved itself, it no longer acted so angry. Officers brought the dog back to the police station (though the officers probably should’ve walked it first … it pooped inside an officer’s car).
Officers turned the pup over to the Kitsap Humane Society, which handles animal control matters for Gig Harbor.