John’s Grocery was robbed early Saturday morning on 9/15/2007. This was our first robbery in over twenty years so we count ourselves pretty lucky, however, this time a gun was involved. That’s pretty serious stuff. At least there is a little comedy in the details.
For starters, the perpetrator of the crime was either a complete novice at committing a robbery or was just really off his “A” game. He visited the store twice during the evening before he decided to demand money from the clerk and was even kind enough to purchase items during each visit. He was even nice enough to use his EBT card for one of the transactions. Thanks to the miracles of modern technology this was all recorded digitally in video and electronic receipts. When the robber finally got up the nerve to demand money from the clerk, our clerk said “NO!”. Looking at the video he seemed a little shocked at her response and instead of walking off with a big bag of loot he swiped a small bag of change off the counter.
The Iowa City Police didn’t have much of a problem tracking him down after showing his photo from our video footage to people at the Shelter House a few blocks north of the store. He was arrested within a few hours and charged with a Class B felony. What can future criminals learned from this incident?
- One, notice the cameras all around the place you are going to rob. There’s a good chance they are real and working.
- Two, don’t use a credit or debit card before you commit the crime. If it was stolen, you’ll just draw more attention to yourself. If it’s yours, think to yourself if you’ve really thought this whole life of crime thing through.
- Three, don’t tell a mother of a two year-old what to do. She is an expert at saying “no” and doesn’t like taking guff from anybody.
- Leave the gun at home.
Iowa City Press-Citizen coverage of the incident
Daily Iowan coverage of the incident
