PORTLAND, Ore. — A shoplifter who bit the earlobe off a Nordstrom security guard during a scuffle was sentenced to 70 months in prison. Ashlie Ruth Clark, 31, pleaded guilty to assault and attempted robbery in Washington County Circuit Court on Friday.
On July 22, Clark stole nearly $800 worth of merchandise from Nordstrom at the Washington Square Mall in Tigard, according to prosecutors. As she was leaving the store, loss prevention confronted her. Clark resisted and yelled at employees as they tried to recover the stolen merchandise.
During the scuffle, prosecutors said Clark bit the earlobe off one of the loss prevention officers. The victim went to the hospital, but her earlobe could not be surgically reattached.
Earlier this month, a different store in Washington Square Mall announced it was closing due to retail theft. The owner of Consign Couture said shoplifters had hit her store 19 times, stealing more than $56,000 in luxury bags, clothing and shoes over the past year.
RELATED: After 19 shoplifting incidents in a year, a store at Washington Square mall is calling it quits
In an unrelated case, a Portland man was sentenced to six years in prison for a series of large-scale retail thefts in Clackamas County and the Portland area. Martin Duane Castaway, 41, pleaded guilty last week in Clackamas County Circuit Court to aggravated theft and organized retail theft.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said over the past year and a half Castaway, along with several other suspects, targeted Fred Meyer stores and Dick’s Sporting Goods throughout the Portland area. The theft ring would enter stores, damage anti-theft systems and then leave the store within minutes carrying large quantities of stolen merchandise.
Police, prosecutors, retailers, private security and neighbors complain shoplifting or organized retail crime is a citywide epidemic in Portland.
“It is at a crisis level,” explained Jeremy Girard of the Oregon Retail Crime Association. Girard estimates some of the hardest hit stores in the Portland-area are losing between $1 million to $5 million annually to theft.