Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Surprise Police arrest couple involved in retail theft ring
Posted
By Richard Smith
Sgt. Tim Klarkowski Special to Independent Newsmedia
On June 19 the Surprise Police Department’s Neighborhood Response Unit arrested Joshua Atherton (37 years old) and Summerlea Hunt (33 years old) as a result of a two month long investigation into an organized retail theft operation.
Atherton and Hunt are both residents of Buckeye.
Joshua Atherton
The investigation into the activities of Atherton and Hunt began in May. The Surprise Police Department’s NRU in conjunction with Frys Food Stores Organized Retail Crime Investigations team identified the Buckeye couple as being responsible for more than 100 cases, all of which involved the theft of liquor from Fry's stores.
The thefts occurred throughout Maricopa County at various Fry's Food locations; the estimated loss was more than $40,000.
When the pair was arrested on June 19 they had just exited a Frys store carrying
Summerlea Hunt
backpacks filled with stolen liquor. They subsequently indicated they had been engaged in these activities since December 2016.
Atherton and Hunt were booked into the Maricopa County 4th Avenue jail on nineteen felony charges which included: organized retail theft, trafficking in stolen property, removing an anti-theft device, and fraudulent schemes.
Editor's Note; Sgt. Tim Klarkowski is a public information officer for the Surprise Police Department
Joshua Atherton
Summerlea Hunt
