Kent Police arrested a 48-year-old Tumwater man Nov. 25 in connection with a Nov. 24 robbery at the Safeway store on Washington Avenue in downtown Kent.
Kent detectives are working with police agencies in Auburn, Federal Way, Burien and Everett because the man fits the description of someone wanted for similar store robberies in those cities, according to a Kent Police media release.
Police arrested the man at his job in Olympia for investigation of first-degree robbery.
The man reportedly approached the customer service desk at the downtown Kent Safeway and asked for a pack of cigarettes. The man then showed the clerk a note demanding all of the money in the register. The man reportedly placed his hand in a jacket pocket as if to imply he had a gun. He fled the store with the cigarettes and cash.
Store employees had been alerted to a man of a similar description who allegedly had robbed Safeway stores in Auburn and Federal Way.
Two employees followed the man into the store parking lot and wrote down the vehicle license plate number of the car the man used to drive away.
Kent Police learned that a man with a similar description reportedly robbed stores in Burien and Everett Nov. 24 after the Kent incident.
Police found a distinctive hat and coat during a search of the man’s home and car similar to the hat and coat seen in surveillance video from the Kent store. No gun has been found.
Police booked the man into the city of Kent jail.
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