Police looking for man in connection with Palmer theft cases

Police are looking for a 34-year-old homeless man on 13 felony and nine misdemeanor charges following a pair of reported thefts in Palmer May 16.

According to charging documents, David Martin Reed Jr. is wanted for the theft of a wallet containing a combination of credit, debit and store membership cards as well as a social security card; along with a backpack containing a laptop computer. Court documents state that a resident on Josselin Lane contacted Palmer Police Department May 17 to report his wallet had been stolen from his unlocked vehicle the previous evening.

Palmer Police officers stated they responded to another theft complaint several hundred feet from the first in which a computer bag and $1,200 laptop were taken from an unlocked vehicle the previous evening. Following up on a reported suspicious person complaint less than a mile away, officers located and contacted a person matching the description.

Court documents state the male identified himself as David Reed Jr. According to charging documents, Reed told police he was knocking on several doors looking for friends. Police report while Reed was reaching for a pack of cigarettes, officers noted a Ziploc bag of syringes in plain sight protruding from his backpack as well as paraphernalia related to heroin use. Reed told officers he had used heroin but not that day and he declined to allow officers to search his backpack that was seized pending a search warrant. Officers cited Reed for fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and released him from the scene.

Further investigation revealed that a person matching Reed’s description had been seen wandering the neighborhood for several previous days. According to the report, after obtaining a warrant to search the backpack, police reported finding prescription opioids, several commonly associated burglary tools and the original complainant’s social security card.

Further police investigation, using surveillance video and transaction information from a number of area businesses revealed the person using the reported stolen transaction devices exactly matched Reed’s description. Based on all gathered evidence, an arrest warrant was issued. He is wanted on 13 felony counts of second-degree theft involving a transaction device, six misdemeanor fraudulent use of a transaction device counts, two counts of second-degree criminal trespass and one count of fourth-degree theft. Bail is set at $2,500 cash/corporate.