Pierce County prosecutors have charged a 46-year-old man with robbing two Key Peninsula espresso stands and a liquor store at gunpoint last week.
Donald A. Lemoine was arraigned in Pierce County Superior Court on three counts of first-degree robbery Monday. Judge Ed Murphy ordered Lemoine held in Pierce County Jail on $200,000 bail.
Charging documents provide the following information.
A man wielding with a black handgun robbed Lacey Latte, 16915 State Route 302 KPN, on Wednesday. He walked up to the stand wearing sunglasses. He pointed a gun at the barista and demanded money.
The barista gave the robber an undisclosed amount of cash, tried to take a picture of him and jumped out the window to a friend’s car. The robber, who threatened the friend with a gun, was seen driving off in a green, four-door car.
The next day at 4:25 p.m., a man robbed the Smoking Hot Espresso stand at 13716 Purdy Drive N.W. He pulled up to the stand and pointed a gun at the barista. The bandit demanded she put money in a black bag, then ordered her to the ground.
The barista told deputies she’d seen a photo alert from the Lacey Latte robbery and said the man who robbed her looked similar.
About 50 minutes after the Smoking Hot Espresso stand robbery, a man walked into a Key Peninsula liquor store and asked for a couple of packs of cigarettes.
The clerk turned around and saw the man pointing a gun at him. The man demanded cash be put into a plastic bag, then ordered the clerk to the floor.
The robber, who wore a distinctive white hat, drove off in a blue car.
Witnesses watched surveillance video from the liquor store robbery and identified Lemoine as the suspect.
Detectives served a search warrant at Lemoine’s apartment. They discovered he drove a turquoise Toyota Corolla and had a shirt similar to the one the robber wore during the Smoking Hot robbery. They also found the distinctive white hat that was worn during the liquor store robbery.
Investigators found heroin in the apartment, which Lemoine shared with two others.
Charging documents and Tacoma police report that Lemoine is a suspect in another similar-style robbery in Mason County and a shooting Thursday night near Tacoma General Hospital in Tacoma. In the shooting, a man suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268 stacey.mulick @thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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