A 38-year-old man who squandered a large cash settlement on his $150-a-day heroin habit in less than a year was desperate to continue to feed his habit once the money was gone, according to court papers.
A probable-cause affidavit says Todd Anthony Billinghurst turned to stealing from the downtown Portland Apple Store nearly daily for the past few months -- leaving store managers and the off-duty Portland police officers they hired to guard the store exceedingly frustrated.
Billinghurst -- who could clearly see into the store, which is essentially a giant clear glass box on three sides -- later told police that he would watch from afar until the guard took a break, the affidavit alleges. Then Billinghurst would run into the store, grab an average of about $700 worth of electronics and escape within 20 seconds, according to the affidavit, written by Deputy District Attorney Kevin Demer.
A store manager gave police still shots of video surveillance that showed a man police identified as Billinghurst in the act. On Thursday, Portland police officer Joey Yoo recognized and arrested Billinghurst coming out of a bathroom at a Starbucks at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Morrison Street, according to the affidavit.
Billinghurst appeared in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Friday to hear the charges against him. Wearing a blue jail uniform, he pleaded not guilty to an accusation of first-degree aggravated theft from Nov. 1 to Feb. 14 at the store at 450 S.W. Yamhill St.
According to the affidavit, Billinghurst said that at first he stole Apple earbuds, but after management moved them behind a counter in response to the thefts, he began targeting Bose headphones. Billinghurst told police that he’d usually grab two sets of Bose headphones at a time, and that he stole a total of about 100 headphones and Apple Airpods in the past two months. The headphones are valued at $349 each, and the Airpods at $159 each.
Billinghurst also told Detective Jeff Myers that each day he uses about 2.5 grams of heroin, which costs about $150, and his girlfriend uses about 1.5 grams, which costs about $90, court papers say. Billinghurst said the pair had been using $109,000 in settlement money that his girlfriend had received in December 2017, but they’d used it all up as of a few months ago and that’s why he’d turned to stealing daily from the Apple Store -- as well as Eddie Bauer and Ross Dress for Less, the affidavit states.
Court papers don’t name the girlfriend, or why she received the large amount of settlement money.
On Friday, Billinghurst also pleaded not guilty to initiating a false report on the day of his arrest Thursday -- for allegedly telling arresting officers that he had swallowed heroin. Officers called an ambulance, which brought him to the hospital, where he admitted it wasn’t true, according to court papers.
Billinghurst’s criminal history stretches back five years, to age 33, when he was convicted of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and heroin possession. He’s been convicted twice more of heroin possession.
-- Aimee Green
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