Employee sought in theft of company credit card

A former employee who absconded with a company credit card and a backpack abandoned in a parking lot topped the list of calls to the Liberty Lake Police Department the week of Jan. 21-28.

A business in the 1600 block of North Molter Road called police on Jan. 22 to report unauthorized charges on a company credit card at the local Home Depot. The employee in possession of the card had been on vacation but didn’t come back to work as scheduled, said Police Chief Brian Asmus. The employee reportedly texted his boss and said he wasn’t coming back, Asmus said.

The employee allegedly bought hundreds of dollars worth of power tools and then pawned them for cash the same day. A check of pawn store and credit card records show the employee apparently did the same thing in October, Asmus said.

“We know who this guy is, but we haven’t caught up with him yet,” Asmus said.

Someone called in a suspicious backpack in a parking lot in the 1400 block of North Liberty Lake Road at 9 p.m. on Jan. 24. “There was an identification tag on the outside,” Asmus said. The officer was able to call the owner of the backpack, who told police he accidentally left it behind when he was transferring items from one car to other. He arrived to pick it up.

Asmus said the officer didn’t have to call the bomb squad to investigate the bag because the identification was easily visible without anyone having to open the backpack.

“It wasn’t that suspicious,” he said. “No wires or fuses.”

A woman called police on Friday to report that someone had taken her purse from her unlocked car parked in her driveway in the 23000 block of East Sinto Avenue.

During the week police made two arrests for driving with a suspended license and one for driving under the influence. They handed out two citations for license and plates required, two for failure to show proof of liability insurance and five for speeding. Additional citations were given for driving without a license without identification, defective muffler, and minor in possession/consumption of alcohol.