SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. – Deputies arrested Joel S. Walker, 44, at the Ross Dress for Less on East Broadway Avenue after he broke a window and attempted to steal a pair of shoes.
Authorities arrived at the scene around 12:30 a.m. Thursday in response to an alarm. A deputy witnessed Walker inside the store, using a phone near the checkout counter. Upon noticing the deputy, Walker climbed out through the broken window.
Walker complied with commands and was detained without incident once additional deputies arrived. He was wearing a new pair of women’s shoes and left his old shoes behind.
According to court documents, Walker told authorities he broke the window because he needed shoes and couldn’t wait for the store to open due to hearing a “hazmat alarm in the city.”
The cost to repair the window was about $1,000, while the shoes were valued at $19.99, according to store employees. They requested Walker be trespassed from the store.
Walker was booked into the Spokane County Jail on felony burglary and malicious mischief charges, along with misdemeanor theft. He was later released on his own recognizance after appearing in Spokane County Superior Court.
