Restaurant robber orders food to go, demands money during 15 thefts, including in Federal Way

Pierce County detectives are seeking the public's help to identify a thief who robbed 15 restaurants at gunpoint — including two in Federal Way.

December 15, 2015 3:50 pm
Still photos from surveillance video shows a suspect during a robbery at a Subway restaurant
Still photos from surveillance video shows a suspect during a robbery at a Subway restaurant

Pierce County detectives are seeking the public’s help to identify a thief who robbed 15 restaurants at gunpoint — including two in Federal Way.

The suspect’s modus operandi was he ordered food to go during his heists, according to police. During his most recent robbery in Federal Way on Dec. 2, an employee said the suspect entered the South 320th Street Denny’s at approximately 6:45 a.m. and asked about using the restroom, according to the Federal Way police report. The employee told him to go ahead and when he came out of the restroom, she went to the cash register area where he was at, provided him a menu and went back to count her till.

The suspect asked the employee for a hot chocolate and she went to get it, taking her till with her. When she moved back to set the till down and get his hot chocolate, suddenly the suspect was next to her behind the counter in the employee-only area, the report continues.

He had a handgun and demanded that she give him the money. The suspect took the cash and some change and walked out of the restaurant. She described the suspect as a white male with scruffy facial hair, wearing a gray and white hat, gray hoodie and jeans. A witness saw the suspect walk around the building towards the parking lot and get into the passenger side of an older red Ford F350 pick-up with a canopy on it.

The suspect also robbed IHOP on Campus Drive on Nov. 17.

In addition to the Federal Way robberies, the suspect also held up the following restaurants in Auburn, Kent, Puyallup, Sumner and Tacoma, according to Washington’s Most Wanted:

• Aug. 25 at Elmer’s on South Hosmer Street in Tacoma

• Aug. 29 at Buttered Biscuit on North Street in Sumner

• Aug. 31 at Ma’s Place on 39th Avenue Southwest in Puyallup

• Sept. 17 at Golden Given Food Mart on Golden Given Road in Tacoma

• Sept. 25 at Midland Eatery on Portland Avenue in Tacoma

• Sept. 25 at Seattle Sun Tan on Canyon Road in Puyallup

• Nov. 5 at Shari’s on Russell Road in Kent

• Nov. 12 at Denny’s on South Hosmer Street in Tacoma

• Nov. 22 at Moctezumas on South 56th Street in Tacoma

• Nov. 23 at Denny’s on Auburn Way South in Auburn

• Nov. 24 at Subway on Portland Avenue East in Tacoma

• Nov. 27 at Subway on River Road in Puyallup

• Dec. 4 at Starbucks on South 56th Street in Tacoma

If you recognize the suspect, police urge you to call an anonymous tip into Crime Stoppers’ hotline at 1-800-222-TIPS.