(WSB photo, October 31)
Last Saturday, we reported on an incident in which a man was taken into custody after an incident that left broken glass at Caffe Ladro in south Morgan Junction. Today, we have learned the suspect is the same man charged with an even-more extensive window-smashing rampage at the Junction QFC in September. 33-year-old Aikeem L. Roberts. He is charged with malicious mischief, assault, and harassment. The court documents have more details of what happened at the coffee shop last Saturday:
As with the QFC incident, this one began, police say, with Roberts bringing bags into the business. In this case, he had “large shopping bags” that were blocking customers’ access to the sanitation station. The manager asked him to move them; after repeated requests were not honored, she asked him to leave. He refused, so she said she would call police. He then started yelling and threatened to kill her. One customer who tried to intervene told police Roberts punched him in the face; another one said Roberts hit him in the ribs with a chair. The court documents say Roberts then began breaking things in the shop and went outside and – after one of the customers he had hit locked the door behind him – threw rocks and a signboard at the shop’s windows and doors, as well as at a parked car belonging to an artist who was there to put up a display. Police arrived shortly thereafter and took Roberts into custody.
He has been in jail since then, with bail set at $75,000. After the September QFC incident, Roberts spent 11 days in jail, before getting out after bond was posted on $5,000 bail. He is awaiting trial on the charges filed against himH in that case – malicious mischief and assault. He is due to be arraigned on the new charges November 18th. His record includes at least seven past felony convictions, including the case we mentioned in prior coverage, in which he stole five cars in one night on the Eastside in 2014.
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