Charge: Man caught pushing stolen TV past Auburn police station

Monday, December 27, 2010
Last updated 1:01 p.m. PT

LEVI PULKKINEN 
SEATTLEPI STAFF

King County prosecutors have filed theft charges against a 22-year-old man allegedly caught wheeling a stolen television past the Auburn police station.

Police contend Johnathon D. Barnes grabbed the 50-inch set out of the back of a Quality Rentals delivery truck, then attempted to wheel it away in a shopping cart. An Auburn officer intervened after seeing Barnes pushing the shopping cart past the front gate of the East Main Street police station.

According to charging documents, a bystander called 911 at 5 p.m. on Dec. 16 to report that she'd seen a man place a large television in a shopping cart. As dispatchers relayed the call, a police officer pulling into the station parking lot spotted Barnes -- dressed entirely in camouflage -- pass by.

The officer caught up to Barnes in the 500 block of East Main Street and stopped to ask him what he was doing.

According to charging documents, Barnes said he'd bought the TV from a friend and then attempted to run away. After a short foot pursuit, Barnes was found lying on the ground in a parking lot and arrested.

Investigators later learned the television had been stolen from Quality Rentals earlier in the day, an Auburn detective told the court. It had been left unattended in the back of a delivery truck when it went missing.

Questioned following his arrest, Barnes denied any wrongdoing and said he was moving the television for his friend James, the detective said in court papers.

"He explained 'James' … had asked him to push the big screen television one block away from the transit station," the detective told the court. "Barnes further explained he did not know 'James'' last name, address or phone number or how to contact him."

Barnes, of Federal Way, was booked into the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent but has since been released. He is charged with second-degree theft.