Columbia man allegedly sprinted from Tanger 1 store with $3,000 worth of clothing.

A Columbia man who allegedly sprinted from a Tanger 1 store Monday with an armload of clothing is facing a misdemeanor charge of shoplifting, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

The incident was reported around 11:30 a.m. by an employee of the True Religions Jeans Store.

The employee told deputies that an African American man and woman entered the store around 11 a.m., the report said. After the woman left, the man began to ask the employee questions about the clothes. After answering his questions, she turned her back on him only to hear the store’s alarm go off, the report said.

The employee saw the man run from the store with $3,000 worth of clothing and get into a blue Pontiac with Georgia license plates. The woman who entered the store with him was behind the wheel, the report said.

The vehicle turned right onto Bluffton Parkway from the outlet mall and headed toward Bluffton, where it was eventually pulled over by a nearby deputy.

The employee identified both the man and woman as the two who had entered the store, the report said. All of the clothing was found inside the vehicle, the report said.

The man was taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center and released on a bond of $5,000 on Tuesday, according to the jail’s website and Beaufort County Court records.

This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 7:14 AM with the headline "Columbia man allegedly sprinted from Tanger 1 store with $3,000 worth of clothing.."