A trio of incidents in less than a week at Natural Grocers in West Sedona resulted in police being called multiple times.
The Sedona Police Department responded to calls related to customers refusing to wear masks in violation of store policy and causing a scene.
One Sedona resident, 34-year-old Matthew Paul Tucciarone, was arrested over the weekend.
Records show that police had been called to two other local businesses in recent weeks in regard to Tucciarone “yelling” and becoming “upset” when asked by staff to wear a mask.
“A business is considered private property so they have the right to refuse service to anyone,” SPD Sgt. Michael Dominguez said, adding that if a customer refuses to wear a mask per store policy, they can be trespassed from the property at the discretion of the business.
The following are the SPD’s three incident reports from over the last week at Natural Grocers:
■ Wednesday, Dec. 9: A male subject came into Natural Grocers and refused to wear his mask when asked by store management. He allegedly began to cause a scene and it appeared to be a set up event to openly challenge the city mask’s proclamation as other patrons joined in with his arguments. At one point the event was filmed and there was an argument over constitutional rights.
The man left the scene prior to police arrival and was unable to be trespassed. Police spoke to management about how to best handle the situation in the future.
■ Saturday, Dec. 12: A silver cab truck pulled up in front of the main entrance and “began protesting and chanting anti-mask rhetoric,” according to police. This has been an ongoing event at Natural Grocers where the store is being targeted by anti-mask protestors, the police report states. Each time police are called and the violators leave prior to police arrival. Solutions are being worked on by Natural Grocers executives in Denver and law enforcement here in town, according to police.
■ Sunday, Dec. 13: Matthew Tucciarone, of Sedona, was with a group that went to Natural Grocers to protest their mask policy for customers. No one had masks on and they proceeded into the business and allegedly pushed past an employee after being told they had to wear masks.
Tucciarone reportedly refused to leave after being told and was arrested. He then allegedly resisted arrest by locking up his muscles and resisting being handcuffed.
The incident with the group and Tucciarone’s actions resulted in the business debating closing down for the remainder of the day. Tucciarone was transported to Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde.
Tucciarone was also trespassed for the day from a coffee shop on Dec. 6 and trespassed from a different grocery store on Nov. 9 after reportedly “yelling in the store about refusing to wear a mask.”
Pam Lipshitz, director of public relations for the Natural Grocers chain of stores, explained the company’s masks policy in an email to the Sedona Red Rock News.
“Our Arizona face mask policy states that all customers are required to wear a face mask or approved facial covering in order to shop at one of our stores,” she wrote. “If customers do not have a face covering, we will provide them one for free. We will not provide in-store shopping services to someone who will not wear an approved face covering.”
She added that if someone refuses to wear a face covering they have two additional options for shopping: They can order delivery via Instacart or provide a 20-item shopping list to an employee on-site who will shop for them and deliver groceries curbside.
