Video Shows Tim Eyman Steal Chair From Office Depot: Police

LACEY, WA - Prolific state initiative activist Tim Eyman is facing a misdemeanor theft charge for stealing a $70 office chair from a Lacey Office Depot store this week.

The manager of the Office Depot along Sleater-Kinney Road called police Wednesday afternoon after he noticed a rolling chair missing from the lobby of the store. The manager checked surveillance video, and saw a man wearing a red sweatshirt with the phrase "Let the voters decide" roll the chair out the front door of the store. Eyman, 53, of Mukilteo, is well-known for wearing a red sweatshirt with the phrase "Let the voters decide" on it.

In the video, you can see a man who looks very much like Eyman get in the chair, spin around a few times. Then the man stands up and pulls the chair by the arm through the automatic sliding doors into the parking lot.

Patch left a message on Eyman's phone, and we will update this story if we hear back.

Eyman was at the store, the police report says, to return a printer he bought at the Bellevue Office Depot. The clerk who helped Eyman with the exchange also talked to police.

"Eyman was identified due to the phone number, payment method information, and name referenced through the store computer system that Eyman used to exchange the printers after walking out of the door with the chair. I further identified Eyman through the store surveillance video provided, a DOL picture returned through dispatch, and a personal picture of Eyman taken from his Facebook account on 2/13/2019 that shows him wearing the same red shirt with the phrase 'Let the voter decide,'" the officer wrote in the report.

The Seattle Times first reported the incident on Friday afternoon. Lacey police released the video and police report to Patch after a public records request.

The investigating Lacey police officer tried to contact Eyman but was unsuccessful. The office has forwarded a theft charge to the Thurston County prosecutor's office. The officer noted the value of the chair in the police report.

This isn't the only legal trouble Eyman is in. In 2017, Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued Eyman, accusing him and a signature gathering firm of taking money from a campaign. Ferguson has also accused Eyman of moving money between initiative campaign accounts against state law. Eyman filed for bankruptcy in November.

Image via YouTube.com