Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
A man's shoplifting spree at University Mall in Orem turned ugly after police say the thief became violent with a store employee. In his desperate attempt to get away, the shoplifter broke the worker's nose in the parking lot. Police say, by law, that takes this from your average shoplifting arrest to a felony case of robbery.
Orem police say 18-year-old Sean Petersen of Sandy, and a friend went into the Zumiez clothing store yesterday afternoon. Employees became suspicious of two men who appeared to have something stuffed in their jackets.
The men left the store and were asked by a worker to come back, but they ran off.
The worker and a passerby gave chase, and that's when police say one of the shoplifters punched the worker in the nose and hit the passerby in the neck before running again.
Officers had been called at this point by the other Zumiez employee and were responding to the area. Sgt. Theron Leany spotted Petersen near the Carrabbas Restaurant hiding near some bushes. But by the time he pulled around in his car, Petersen was gone. However, Leany found the four shirts Petersen had allegedly stolen from Zumiez, as well as Petersen's jacket and shirt. Officers say he removed them to change his appearance.
Officers eventually found Petersen hiding beneath a table inside an empty banquet room at Carrabbas. They say Petersen could hardly talk, but say he did manage to proclaim, "OK, you got me," as he climbed out from underneath the table.
Now he is facing assault and robbery charges. Lt. Doug Edwards, with the Orem Department of Public Safety, said, "That's what he's been booked under. Now it will be up to the county attorney if they will actually charge that. But it's in the law, if you use force in the commission of a crime of theft, then that is robbery, and so he aggravated his circumstance from a misdemeanor charge of shoplifting to a second-degree felony."
Prosecutors will review the evidence against Petersen in the next week and determine what charges will be filed.
Police say he told them exactly who was with him on the shoplifting spree, and detectives are trying to track down that suspect; however, since he was not involved in the assault he'll only be facing shoplifting charges.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
