Eric King

A 21-year-old man faces drug and shoplifting charges in Dakota County after allegedly trying to walk out of a store with a television in his pants.

The Dakota County Attorney charged Eric Lee King Friday with 5th degree felony posession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor shoplifting.

A criminal complaint says an Eagan police officer was sitting in the parking lot of a business when he observed a man walk out the door and drop a bag of candy.

The officer called out his window to let the man, later identified as Eric King, know he had dropped something but King ignored him and kept walking. The Eagan officer then noticed that the man was walking stiff-legged and clutching at the front of his pants.

When the cop drove up to King and beeped his horn to talk to him, the defendant kept walking and continued to ignore him. When the officer got out to confront him, King squatted down and reached to grab something down the front of his pants. Fearing for his safety, the officer grabbed King and handcuffed him.

At that point the officer searched the defendant and found a 19-inch flat screen television and several other items in his pants. Prosecutors say King also had Xanax tablets in his pockets.

If found guilty, Eric Lee King faces a maxiumum reccomended sentence of 5 years in prison.