Man charged with stealing from Worth Avenue stores before running from police

A man from Central Florida recently came to Palm Beach's famous Worth Avenue to pick up a few items — without paying, police said.

The Altamonte Springs man, 35, took items from two stores before running from officers and trying to hide at a nearby home on April 30, Palm Beach police said.

According to an arrest report, the man went into the Tory Burch store at 255 Worth Ave. about 12:45 p.m. that day and bought a tote bag priced at $298. The man left the store with the tote bag in a pink Tory Burch shopping bag, then returned about an hour later to return the tote, police said.

While in the store, the man grabbed a watch worth $300 and, after returning the tote bag, left Tory Burch without paying for the wristwear, the arrest report said.

The man then went to the Versace store at 243 Worth Ave. A store employee told police that before the man came in, a tan Versace purse was hanging on a mannequin near the front door, but after the man left, the purse was not there.

Police were called to Versace about 2 p.m. by an employee who saw the man take the purse. That employee described the man for police and said he saw the man go into the alley that leads to the parking lot behind 207 Worth Ave.

An officer soon spotted the man in that parking lot, still carrying the pink Tory Burch shopping bag.

When the police officer told the man to stop, the man threw the shopping bag — inside of which were a baseball hat and the tan Versace handbag — at the officer, then ran, the arrest report said.

The officer continued to yell at the man to stop, but the man ran toward Peruvian Avenue and jumped over a brick wall at a nearby house, police said.

While searching the property, police found the man hiding in a laundry room outside of the home. He then fought officers as they tried to arrest him, the report said. While fighting with officers, the man caused about $200 worth of damage.

The man was carrying a pair of white Versace sunglasses that he had taken from the store, and he also had a chisel, which may be used to commit burglaries and remove anti-theft devices, the report said.

The man faces charges of resisting an officer with violence, obstructing an officer without violence, grand theft of more than $750 and less than $5,000, possession of burglary tools and battery, court records show.

In addition, the arrest report said the man faces extradition to Orange County, where he has a pair of warrants on charges of probation violation and petit theft.

He remains in the Palm Beach County Jail as of May 1 on a $40,000 bond, jail records show.

Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com . Subscribe today to support our journalism.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Man charged with stealing from Worth Avenue stores before running from police