Blotter: Man says he robbed gas station to fuel heroin habit

Robbery

A 26-year-old Kent man admitted to Kent Police that he robbed a service station in late August to support a heroin habit.

The robbery occurred at about 1:30 a.m. Aug. 30 at a service station in the 600 block of Central Avenue North.

Responding to a tip, police arrested the man Sept. 3 at a house in the 23900 block of Westview Court for investigation of second-degree robbery.

The tip was a note from a customer at the service station, listing the man’s name. The customer gave it to an employee at the station a couple of days after the robbery. The customer reportedly had gotten the man’s name from a friend.

Officers ran the name on the note through the state Department of Licensing and received a photo of the man. Police compared that photo to the video surveillance tape from the service station and found a match, according to the police report.

The store clerk called police on Aug. 30 to report that a man had tried to buy several packs of cigarettes with counterfeit $100 bills. After the clerk handed one $100 bill and then a second $100 bill back to the man because they appeared to be fake, the man reportedly jumped over the counter and grabbed the clerk by the front of his shirt.

The man told the clerk to give him the money from the register or he would kill him. The man reached toward his own waistband, but the clerk said he did not see a gun. The man grabbed the money from the register and ran from the store.

When police arrested the man at his home on Sept. 3, the man had a glass case in his pocket that had four syringes, a spoon and cotton balls.

The man told officers he had used heroin for about six months and needed cash to buy more drugs. He told police he had already spent the cash from the service station on drugs.

Assault

Police arrested a man for investigation of fourth-degree assault after he reportedly slapped a woman in the face during a dispute over their baby at 3:15 p.m. Sept. 2 at an apartment in the 700 block of Third Avenue South.

The father became upset after the mother reportedly wouldn’t give him the baby for the day, according to the police report. The man told officers he came to the apartment to take the baby. He said the couple had no parenting plan set up for sharing time with the child.

The mother told officers it was her only day off during the week so she didn’t want to let the father take the 5-month-old baby away for the day. The man allegedly used an open hand to slap the woman in the face, grabbed the woman’s arm and tried to take the baby.

Police noted that the woman had red marks on her arm.

While being driven to the city jail, the man repeatedly hit his head against the glass in the back of the patrol car, but did not sustain any injuries.

Burglary

A man flagged down a Kent Police patrol car at about 7:15 p.m. Sept. 2 in the 800 block of Central Avenue South to report a possible burglary of his neighbor’s trailer home.

The man pointed to two men standing near the entrance to the trailer park. Officers then stopped and handcuffed the two men, according to the police report. Police arrested one man for investigation of third-degree possession of stolen property. They arrested the second man for investigation of possession of a dangerous weapon for carrying a switchblade knife.

The two men had been hired to do yard work at a home in the trailer park. But one of the men reportedly broke in through the front door of the home where they were working and took a bag of power tools valued at about $300. A neighbor saw the two men leaving the house and called 911.