Charges: Missing keys bungled a robbery getaway. A stolen trash can didn’t help
Robbers of a Parkland-area marijuana shop had trouble fleeing the heist when they realized someone had taken the keys to their getaway truck, court records allege.
“Deputies learned that multiple armed suspects had entered the business, disarmed an employee, and then stole a large amount of cash at gunpoint,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook post. “The suspects ran out of the store to a rental truck that was parked directly in front of building … only to discover they had dropped the truck keys inside the marijuana store during the robbery. “
Two suspects, ages 26 and 39, pleaded not guilty to first-degree robbery at arraignment Tuesday in Pierce County Superior Court.
Charging papers and the Sheriff’s Department gave this account of what happened:
Deputies responded to a report of an armed robbery with shots fired at the store Monday in the 10400 block of Pacific Avenue South. Surveillance video showed four suspects. More charges might be filed.
Investigators learned the suspects left on foot after they went to start their truck and realized they didn’t have the keys.
An employee at the shop told deputies “that he took the keys to the suspects’ vehicle, which was parked directly in front of the store,” the declaration for determination of probable cause said. “... Deputies observed a Toyota truck parked in front of the store. They could see money lying on the ground near the passenger side of the truck.”
The 26-year-old suspect was arrested in a nearby parking lot, where he appeared to be trying to trade cash for a ride out of the area.
Deputies found the 39-year-old suspect dragging a trash can in the area as a woman argued with him. He allegedly told deputies he was taking out the garbage and heading to work.
The woman told them “... she had been in her house a half block away when a neighbor told her that a male just stole her trash can,” the probable cause statement said. “She chased after the male and yelled at him to return her trash can.”
Deputies found a Tupperware container with money inside and two guns in the trash can.
When the suspect was booked into jail, officers found he had methamphetamine.
