All it took was about 20 minutes of searching for Westlock RCMP to locate an alleged robber — he went across the street to the bar.
Last Tuesday, Feb. 25, police got a report of a robbery in progress at around 9:20 p.m. at the local Subway restaurant. A man demanded money from staff, although Staff Sgt. Dwayne Rawson said he didn’t have a weapon.
“He’d gone in and demanded the cash,” Rawson said. “He had partially hidden his face and had his hand in his coat.”
Nobody was injured as a result of the incident, and the suspect left the store on foot with the money he had stolen.
Police promptly responded to the call, and after getting a description of the suspect they started looking around the area. About 20 minutes later, they found a suspect matching the description across the street at Ace’s Lounge in the Westlock Inn.
He was arrested without incident.
“We were out looking around, looking for guys of that description, and we headed in that direction,” Rawson said.
The suspect is known to police but only from an incident a few days prior to the Tuesday robbery; prior to that he had not come to the attention of Westlock RCMP.
“He was caught shoplifting in two different stores,” he said.
At this point, Rawson said police do not believe this incident is connected to any of the break-ins to Westlock businesses that have taken place over the past several months.
Justin Charbonneau, 31, of no fixed address, has been charged with robbery and with wearing a disguise while committing and indictable offence. He is scheduled to appear in Westlock Provincial Court on March 5.
Robbery incidents are also relatively rare in Westlock, but this robbery at the Subway comes relatively soon after an attempted armed robbery at McDonald’s in the early morning hours of Dec. 27, 2013.
That incident involved a male trying to get into the store with no success, before approaching an employee who was taking the garbage out and threatening her with a knife.
An off-duty RCMP member from High Prairie was in the drive-thru at the time, and yelled at the suspect who then fled in a vehicle. Police got a licence plate number, but were unable to locate that vehicle.
