News - Local News - On Patrol

POSTED: Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008

Woman arrested on suspicion of stealing $480 in clothes from Bellis Fair mall

Hundreds of people left Bellis Fair mall with clothes and other purchases on Black Friday, Nov. 28, but two plainclothes Bellingham police officers were immediately suspicious when they saw Lucinda M. Newton, 38, leave with clothes in her arms.

Her clothes still had hangers and their security tags on them, Sgt. Dennis James said. They weren't in bags, either.

Suspecting that she stole them, the officers tried to stop Newton in the parking lot but she got in her car and took off, James said.

The officers pursued her in their unmarked car as she left the mall and started driving in the wrong lane on Telegraph Road, James said.

Newton continued south on Meridian Street and west on Birchwood Avenue. The officers caught up with her after she crashed her car into a tree on the 2500 block of Cedarwood Avenue and fled on foot, James said.

The officers arrested her in a nearby driveway, James said. Newton was arrested on suspicion of third-degree theft, possessing burglar tools, reckless driving and third-degree driving with a suspended license. A device that deactivates store security tags was confiscated.

She was booked into Whatcom County Jail, and remained there Saturday evening in lieu of $2,500 bail. The clothes she took were worth about $480, James said.