A 56-year-old Bremerton man accused of stealing more than $44,000 in merchandise from Safeway stores in nearly two dozen thefts has been charged by the Washington State Attorney General's Office with organized retail theft. Between late July 2023 and January this year, Rogelle Muhammed Harris allegedly stole health and beauty products from 13 different stores in Pierce, Thurston, Kitsap and King counties to resell them. The Attorney General's Office charged Harris on June 7 in Thurston County Superior Court with first-degree organized retail theft, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The prosecution is the third to come out of the office's task force focused on organized retail crimes, which often span multiple cities and counties. Harris is set to be arraigned June 25. He does not appear to be in custody in Thurston or Pierce counties, according to jail records.
An attorney for the defendant was not listed in Thurston County court records. Albertsons Companies, which owns Safeway, is a participant in the task force, and, according to charging documents, it indicated that Harris had committed more than 45 thefts with losses totaling more than $76,606.80.
Harris was reportedly charged in several jurisdictions, but he continued to steal from their stores. An investigator for the Attorney General's Office reviewed "numerous" hours of security footage shared by Albertsons senior organized crime investigator along with police and loss reports to tie the thefts to Harr.
