Wednesday, September 16, 2009

On camera again

It got pretty exciting around LPD yesterday morning. Things started warming up at 1:41 AM, when a robbery took place at Roc’s Stop & Shop, a convenience store at 27th and South Streets. By about 9:30 AM, the Community Services group had obtained some frame shots from the video, and had those posted on our Crimestoppers blog. The images weren’t bad, and showed the unusual pockets on the suspect’s trousers.

At 10:13 AM, another holdup was reported at the Roc’s Stop & Shop at 56th and Holdrege: same description, same pants. Just 14 minutes later, at 10:27 AM, a third convenience store robbery was reported at the Kwik Shop at 40th and A Streets. Once again, the description matched and this time we got a license plate number from the getaway vehicle.

All over the city, available officers were checking the convenience stores on their beat. At 10:55 AM, Officer Rob Brenner spotted the suspects at the Git-n-Split at 345 W. O Street. He effected the gunpoint arrests.

The alleged wheel man was just reported as an escapee from the State Department of Corrections on Monday—he absconded on his first day of work release. He is serving 10 to 20 for four counts of Robbery and one count of burglary from Douglas County. The alleged gunman hasn’t had a good month: he was just identified a couple of weeks ago in a theft at a grocery store where he grabbed cash from an open register door and dashed. A citizen spotted him on our Crimestoppers blog from that case and gave us the tip.

It was a bad morning for our violent Part 1 crime rate, but a good one for our clearance rate. This is the kind of arrest you dream about: great police work by Officer Brenner, supported by his colleagues who arrived to assist, Mike Muff and Ben Kopsa.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I was going to submit a question here yesterday last night, asking if any convicted robbers had recently been paroled or early-released who fit the descriptions, but I guess this answers that question!

Anonymous said...

Hey, he was serving time for robbery and was out on "work release". So, what do you expect? He was just getting back to his chosen vocation.

Dave said...

As I read this, I just heard police are searching for a man in a van involved with a possible robbery at a one of D' Leon's restaurants.

Unknown said...

Great work catching these two. Thanks! :-)

BTW - were the two involved in the sword/machete assault ever caught? Or rather, caught yet?

Tom Casady said...

Charity-

Thank you!

No, the slicers from that case are still unidentifed. I really thought we'd get some productive tips on this, since we had such a good description. How many pairs of 300 lb. Latino guys are driving around at 3:30 AM in a 2003-ish red Ford Ranger pickup, extended cab with a bed liner?

Anonymous said...

NASA can get a photo of a fly on the belly of the shuttle. The photographs we see on the internet are like the 1960 photos we view at the Nebraska historical society.

Anonymous said...

The criminal justice system works so well. I hope the brain child who decided to allow this convicted robber out on work release sleeps well at night.

Anonymous said...

Way to go LPD, hopefully these clowns don't get work release this time.

Trevor said...

So flamboyant for chaps who don't want to be seen. If I were to smuggle drugs, rob, etc. I would try to be as boring as possible. Drive a good condition gray 2002 Malibu, wear a polo shirt and bluejeans, look bored and depressed just like everyone else, you're not going to stand out...

Steve said...

Maybe I'm the only one, but I can't help feeling that our legal system, again and again, is failing us. (Not the police, but the rest of the system.) I'd be willing to bet that the four counts of robbery and one burglary for the wheel man, and the cash grab at the grocery store by the gunman, aren't the only things on their records. So why were they not in jail?

Anonymous said...

Chief,
Are you willing to weigh in on your thoughts of this guy being on work release in the first place? Is there any accountability for those who make the decision to allow a particular inmate the privilege of work release. Further, who makes these decisions? Seems like a no brainer that someone in for four counts of robbery(a violent crime last I checked) should be locked up, not in the community on work release. Lucky no one got hurt.

Tom Casady said...

7:06 -

I have to walk a fine line when criminal charges are pending, so it's best for me to stick to the facts, and not editorialize. I think regular readers of the Chief's Corner can probably read my mind.

Anonymous said...

Now, then, I wonder who this traffic bump-and-robber might be, or is there more to that incident that meets the eye? We don't see many of those around here. Maybe they just got put on work-release too, and went right back to what they know best.

Anonymous said...

I was referring to this incident. Colonial Hills is usually such a sleepy enclave. Did the paper get any better suspect description than that from LPD (he asked, like a lawyer, already knowing the answer)?

Tom Casady said...

5:55-

Got it. You're reading faster than me!

"approx 6', 200 lbs, with a deep voice. He was wearing a black or dark ski mask, black/dark t-shirt, black/dark wide leg pants, and black tennis shoes."

Anonymous said...

I was pretty sure there was little more to the description than that, but maybe not. Anyway, it seems unusual to randomly pick a male target for a bump-and-rob like that. When I lived where robberies like that were more common, the targets were almost always female (or elderly) to lower risk to the robber. The exceptions were when the robber knew for certain the added risk of robbing a younger male target would be worth it (ATM user ripoffs, night deposit bag ripoffs, drug ripoffs, etc).