Petty theft turns into robbery after fight

Deepa Bharath

What started off as a shoplifting incident turned into a robbery on

Wednesday afternoon when a man fought off a departmental store

manager and made away with four pairs of jeans from the store,

officials said.

The man reportedly walked out of the Kmart in the 2200 block of

Harbor Boulevard at about 4:15 p.m., Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale

Birney said.

“The store manager, who had the official title of loss prevention

manager, chased this man out the door and confronted him,” he said.

The two got into a brief physical fight, Birney said.

“They wrestled over the property,” he said. “As it turned out, the

suspect ended up winning the tug of war and left with the items,” he

said.

No injuries were reported during the incident, which took place in

the parking lot of the store with several witnesses, Birney said.

But police got only a sketchy description of the thief, he said.

“All we have is that he was a male in his 20s,” Birney said.

He said the incident would have been reported as a petty theft if

the manager hadn’t followed him out of the store.

“But the minute you get into an altercation and physically take

property away from someone, the incident gets elevated to a robbery,”

Birney said.

Police are investigating the incident. Anyone with more

information is asked to call the Costa Mesa Police Department at

(714) 754-5281.