California shoplifting suspect charged with anti-Asian hate crimes in February incidents

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (TCD) --

A California woman arrested on suspicion of shoplifting Friday was additionally charged with robbery and violation of civil rights by force or threat in connection to two incidents weeks earlier.

Mountain View Police said 39-year-old Karen Inman was arrested for allegedly trying to steal candy and ice cream from a Smart and Final store on East El Camino Real at about 11 a.m. on Friday, March 5.

Police said an arrest warrant had been issued for Inman a week earlier in connection to a theft and a battery at a store and restaurant in Mountain View in February.

Police said a woman had reportedly taken food and clothing items from a market on Castro Street on Feb. 13, allegedly telling store staff “she did not have to pay because of their Asian ethnicity.”

Responding officers found the suspect minutes later and detained her. The officers were informed of a second call that had come in earlier the same day about “a woman matching Inman’s description who had yelled at two patrons, one of whom was of Asian descent. As Inman was yelling racial epithets at the diner, she allegedly also spit in his direction,” according to Mountain View Police.

The 36-year-old victim had been eating outside with a friend near Castro and Villa streets “when Inman approached him and, unprovoked, spat on him. She then used an ethnic slur,” according to the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office. “A fellow diner, who had seen the defendant approach other people of Asian descent in the area but did not know how she spoke with them, called police.”

Inman allegedly told the man to go back to “where you came from,” the D.A.'s Office said.

Neither of the victims of the alleged theft and battery wanted to press charges, police said. “Because neither crime was witnessed by our officers, Inman was released.”

The Mountain View Police Dept. brought the case to the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office for review, who "established that hate crime charges could be brought against Inman.“

Police said “there was no indication” Inman said anything about anyone’s ethnicity in Friday’s alleged theft.

The D.A.’s Office stated Inman is from Greenbrae. Mountain View Police described Inman as a transient.

Inman was booked in the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of petty theft, robbery, and two counts of violation of civil rights by force or threat.

"Attacks against the Asian Pacific Islander community have risen during the pandemic, driven in part by false political rhetoric blaming Asian-Americans for the outbreak," the D.A.'s Office said.

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