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Aug 9, 2008 6:53 pm US/Central
Police Hope Surveillance Video Can Help Nab Robber
Arlington Robbery Generates Good Images Of Serial Cigarette Robber
ARLINGTON (AP) ―
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Arlington Police Department
Some might call him Smokey the Bandit because he's a robber who sets his sights on cigarettes -- lots of them.
"He gets $3,500 to $4,000 worth of cigarettes."
Police said a serial cigarette robber has struck half a dozen times since May with an Arlington 7-Eleven store at I-20 and Matlock one of his latest targets.
During that hold up, he walked into the convenience store, pulled out a big trash bag and headed straight to the cigarette case.
Officials said the July 8 robbery also was when they captured the best surveillance pictures of the robber.
Investigators are hoping he is caught, before someone gets hurt.
The surveillance video shows a clerk standing behind some food racks on the left side of the screen trying to reason with the robber.
"Basically she asks him: 'You know what are you doing? The Lord doesn't want you to do that.' And he indicates to her that he's got a gun and he will shoot her," Arlington Police Det. Kyle Dishko explained.
After loading more than 70 cartons of cigarettes into his sack, the robber takes off.
In addition to the Arlington case, detectives believe the same man has committed similar robberies twice in Coppell, once in Lewisville, once in Carrollton and possibly once in Irving.
"Always the same. He's using a black trash bag in the offenses. He goes in, he threatens to shoot the clerk. He has yet to display a weapon, but he's told every single one of the clerks he will shoot them," Dishko said.
So what is the robber doing with all those cigarettes? Investigators don't believe he's smoking them.
"Well, he's selling them somewhere. He's either selling them from the trunk of his car, or selling them to some business, or he runs a cigarette stand."
Police encourage anyone who sees the man in the photos selling cigarettes to gather get as much information about where he was and what kind of car he may be driving then call 911.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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