Police say Lakewood thrift store used as front to buy, sell stolen goods; owner arrested

LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- Police say a  Lakewood thrift store was being used as a front to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars of stolen goods.

Detectives say Timothy Tull, owner of Thrift T, knowingly bought stolen goods from people and then turned around and sold those items on eBay.com.

Police said it included everything from personal hygiene products, kitchen appliances and hardware products.

Police say undercover detectives on two occasions sold Tull new hardware products that still had the security tags on them. Detectives say Tull saw the security tags but never said anything; instead he agreed to pay hundreds of dollars for the new items. Since then, detectives said, have discovered up to 2,500 stolen goods worth up to $200,000.

Most of the stolen items have been traced back to big box stores; in fact, Home Depot donated the hardware items used in the undercover operation to bust Tull. Detectives also found 90 security tags in a  trash bin near Thrift T soon after Tull’s arrest.

He’s been charged with trafficking stolen property and Tull will be back in court Thursday morning.