PORT ANGELES — A 25-year-old Port Angles woman has been arrested following the theft of Christmas gifts from the Port Angeles Salvation Army.
Edna Nicole Coe was booked Sunday into the Clallam County jail for investigation of first-degree trafficking in stolen property and second-degree possession of stolen property.
Port Angeles police allege that Coe possessed $884 in items stolen from a Salvation Army storage building early last week and sold some of the toys to Michael William Tripp, a 24-year-old transient.
Coe was released from jail Monday on her own recognizance.
She will be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Clallam County Superior Court.
The theft in the early morning hours of Dec. 14 saw at least $1,500 worth in toys destined to be given to children for Christmas go missing.
An outpouring of community support replaced the toys several times over, said Major Scott Ramsey, co-director of the Port Angeles Salvation Army office.
The Christian charity distributed toys to more than 400 families Friday and Saturday at the former Hartnagel Building Supply building at Front and Race streets.
The distribution extended into Monday thanks to an overflow of donated toys and cash.
Cash donations will help fund the Salvation Army’s year-round programs, which include its weekday soup kitchen, rental assistance, help with utility payments, bus tokens, gasoline money, emergency lodging and medicine.
“It’s going to last far beyond Christmas,” Ramsey has said.
Port Angeles police cited Tripp for possession of stolen property. He will face misdemeanor charges in Clallam County District Court.
Police have since returned most of the stolen toys after some were recovered before the most recent arrest.
The recovered items include video games for older children, preschool learning tablets, dolls, socks and underwear.
The goods apparently had passed through more than one pair of hands before they were given up anonymously, Ramsey has said.
City police wrote in court papers that Coe sent a text message to Tripp last week asking if he wanted to buy some gifts.
Tripp told Officer Thomas Kuch that he met Coe and another woman at a Liberty Street business and followed them to a shack in the alley between First and Front streets where some of the stolen toys were being kept.
Tripp told police there was “more stuff than I could look at.”
“He told me that he picked out a basketball, a watch, four Barbies, a fancy coloring book and a Hello Kitty back pack,” Kuch wrote in the arrest narrative.
“He told me that he only paid $20 for all those items.”
“Tripp admitted to me that he knew the items were stolen but added that he didn’t know where they were stolen from,” Kuch wrote.
Coe allegedly thanked Tripp in a Dec. 17 text message for not telling on her, police said.
Two Salvation Army employees identified the items recovered from the shack as being some of the toys stolen from the Salvation Army storage facility.
The items recovered at the shack were valued at $884, Kuch said.
Information on wether police are seeking more suspects in the case was not immediately available Monday.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
