Shoplifting Suspect Is Apprehended By Blowing Rock Police, Video Surveillance

Blowing Rock Police, shop owners and a lot of help from the latest electronic technology led to the arrest of a Hickory man on a major shoplifting case in Blowing Rock and opened the door to the possibility of helping solve a number of other cases from Watauga to Catawba County.
Charged on Friday, May 18 was Charles Todd Ritchie of Hickory, a 39 year old man who listed his occupation as a carpenter.
Having been the victim in an earlier shoplifting incidents, a Blowing Rock business, G. Whillikers on Main Street, installed a video system to monitor traffic in the store. On Tuesday, May 15 a customer indicated an interest in purchasing a Vera Vera checkbook cover, and ask the clerk to call other places looking for some other items. While she was on the phone, the customer walked around the store. Once off the phone, the customer told her he was going to get his wallet and come back to pay for the one checkbook cover he had left at the counter. The customer did not return to the store.
Returning the checkbook cover to the shelves, the clerk noted a number of checkbook covers were missing.
She immediately went to the camera system to recall the tape recorded activity in the store at the time of the incident. The camera recorded a white male in his 30s with a tan colored baseball cap. He was wearing a blue short sleeve shirt with pink and white stripes and tan short pants. As the camera recorded the activities, the customer made his way to the Vera Vera display, and, unknown to him, the camera recorded him picking up a stack of checkbook covers and putting them under his shirt. He then approach the clerk and informed her he was going to his car to get his wallet to play for the checkbook cover he left at the counter.
Store owners called police and Cpl. Chris D. Shook initiated an investigation, however extensive efforts to locate the suspect captured on the tape were unsuccessful.
Police made a photo taken from the video surveillance available to all area merchants, and three days later, on Friday, May 18, a shop owner in Boone reported seeing the suspect getting in the passengers side of a red Ford truck. Responding to the call, Boone police were unable to find the suspect, however they did notify Blowing Rock police who began monitoring Highway 321 looking for the red Ford truck.
Within minutes Cpl Shook located the truck and the suspect at The Dollar Mart on 321 north. When questioned by Cpl Shook the suspect gave the officer his brother’s name and date of birth, however further investigation identified the suspect as Charles Todd Ritchie, who also used the name of Michael James Ritchie as an alias.
Lt. Dennis Swanson, who was was listed as the assisting officer, and Cpl Shook noted four new tile saws, two boxes of tiles and a 13.5 gallons of cement in the bed of the truck, all still showing tags from Lowest Home Improvement store in Boone. A call to Lowes confirmed that the items had been stolen from their Boone store.
Further investigation by Blowing Rock Police have confirmed that Ritchie has been involved in other criminal incidents here and in Catawba County.
The Vera Vera wholesale supplier for Western North Carolina said that recently their products have been a prime target for shoplifters, and confirmed that Ritchie has been involved in theft of Vera Vera merchandise at other stores, including Spainhour’s in Hickory.
The Vera Bradley items taken from the Blowing Rock store had an estimated value of over $680.00.
Ritchie was taken to Watauga County jail and placed under a $2,750 bond.
Police say their investigation is continuing.