Two customers at Shari's restaurant in northwest Spokane had their laptops stolen out of their hands Sunday, police say.

The women were sitting in a booth about 4:50 p.m. when a man walked up, slammed a MacBook shut and grabbed it from one of them, then grabbed the other laptop that was nearby.

The thief, identified by police as Tyler C. Berens, 20, ran from the restaurant but was arrested minutes later at the McDonald's across the street. A McDonald's employee told police Berens walked into the store on a cellphone and said "I'm going to jail" before locking himself in the bathroom, according to court documents.

Police found Berens in the bathroom and recovered the laptops from a garbage can. Officers said Berens had two Xanex pills on him, which earned him drug possession charges in addition to second-degree robbery and second-degree theft charges for the laptop heists.

Berens already has a trial scheduled in May for property crimes charges related to a counterfeit check ring.

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