2 arrested in robbery of tobacco store

Published 1:30 am Saturday, April 28, 2018

MONROE — Monroe police knew the car as the black Mercedes with no license plates.

Its driver crashed into a cigar store clerk, 62, around 4:20 p.m. Wednesday, as he tried to recover a shoplifted vape pen and cigarettes. The crash left him covered in blood in a parking lot.

Officers arrested two suspects Thursday, within hours of the small-time heist, according to police reports filed in court.

Police believe the man, 26, had entered Cigar Q in a white T-shirt, shorts and a dark hat Wednesday afternoon in the 19000 block of Lenton Place SE. He was swaying, rubbing his face, clapping his hands and unable to stand still — probably on meth, police wrote in their reports. He picked a vape pen from a display case and a carton of Marlboros from a stack. Another man came into the store, and he let him cut in line. Once it was his turn, as the clerk started to ring up his order, the thief snatched the goods and ran for the door.

A woman with long dark wavy hair was waiting in the parking lot in the Mercedes. The man jumped into the passenger seat, and the clerk grabbed the door handle. The woman sped off, striking the clerk and knocking him down, according to police. The clerk was taken to EvergreenHealth Monroe, for a bad cut to his hand and injuries to his face, city police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said.

Police released a photo of the robbery suspect, along with a description of the getaway car.

Officers realized they’d had “numerous prior contacts” with a black Mercedes that was sold to a Snohomish woman Feb. 1. She had told police several times that when she bought the car, the owner didn’t give her the license plates. That stuck in officers’ minds.

And each time they’d run into the woman, her boyfriend was with her. Police recognized him as the man on security footage.

Officers tracked down the black 1989 Mercedes Benz early Thursday in the 20600 block of Calhoun Road, about a mile from the scene of the crime.

The couple was asleep in the car. They were arrested without further incident for investigation of first-degree robbery.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.