He needed cash. Cops say he lied, stole and robbed to get it

The suspect in an early morning robbery at a Kennewick convenience store pocketed about $300 in cash after pointing a gun at the clerk.

Hunter D. Shauers, 21, pleaded innocent Thursday to first-degree robbery for the Nov. 30 incident.

He also appeared on another new Benton County Superior Court case for second-degree identity theft and forgery.

The Kennewick man also has two pending cases, filed in October, for second-degree possessing stolen property and two counts of first-degree trafficking in stolen property.

All of his cases involve attempts to get money.

In the Pik-A-Pop robbery, Shauers allegedly entered the 526 W. Columbia Drive store at 3:50 a.m. wearing a black Under Armour hoodie jacket and a gray mask.

The clerk told police she was behind the counter cooking food when Shauers started screaming at her, court documents said.

The robber held a black handgun and a white plastic bag, and demanded money from the clerk. She said the gun looked like those carried by police.

Documents say it actually was a black BB gun that appeared to be a pistol.

Shauers was arrested Saturday on the identity theft, and that’s when investigators linked him to the robbery.

According to Kennewick police Sgt. Ryan Kelly, the distinctive hoodie was worn in September when Shauers allegedly cashed a stolen check and again in the robbery.

Court documents show that on Sept. 18, Shauers went to Fred Meyer in Kennewick and wrote a $434 check on his roommate’s account.

Video surveillance shows Shauers giving his roommate’s driver’s license information to the store clerk, documents said.

The roommate told police he did not give Shauers permission to take his check, and immediately evicted him after living together for less than two weeks.

Then, during a one-week period in October, Shauers allegedly stole goods from the Richland Walmart on three separate occasions. The stolen merchandise totaled $719.

Shauers then turned around and sold the stolen goods to three Tri-City GameStop stores for $439 total, court documents said.

GameStop employees gave investigators records, including Shauers’ driver’s license, showing he made transactions for 25 items at the stores, documents said.

Shauers allegedly took an acquaintance during one of those trips and asked the woman to sell the items, claiming he had been “cut off.”

The woman told police she knew nothing about the games being stolen, and believed he needed help because he’d recently been fired from his job.

The following week, Shauers went to Plato’s Closet in Kennewick to pick up money for clothes he earlier had brought in for sale. An employee suspected the clothing was stolen because it looked brand new, court documents said.

Police connected it to an Oct. 17 shoplifting report from Macy’s, and asked for a surveillance picture of the suspect in the theft of jackets and other clothes.

Employees with Macy’s and Buckle, another Columbia Center mall store, confirmed Shauers was their shoplifting suspect after he was detained at Plato’s Closet.

Shauers sold $595 worth of stolen merchandise from Macy’s to Plato’s Closet, and in total took $1,094 from the department store, documents said.

Officers searching Shauers after his arrest also located a debit card in his possession that belonged to a woman. The card had been reported stolen.

Trial on all four cases is set for Jan. 29.

Shauers had been out of custody on his personal recognizance since first appearing in October on the property crimes.

Now he is in the Benton County jail on $65,000 total bail, including $50,000 for the robbery.

This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 5:57 PM with the headline "He needed cash. Cops say he lied, stole and robbed to get it."