Armed robber strikes local business

An as-yet-undetermined number of lottery scratch-off tickets were stolen about 10 p.m. Monday from the North Side Grocery by an armed and masked robber.
Detective Capt. Mike Murley said police were called by the store attendant, Nitinkumar Patel, who said a subject wearing all dark clothing, a black face mask and a baseball cap had come into the store with a gun in his hand.
Patel told police he saw the gun and the mask and immediately ran out the back door.
“The subject took what appears to be the whole lottery scratch-off ticket display,” said Murley. He described the display as a Plexiglas apparatus standing about a foot tall and a foot and a half wide.
Murley said the robber took the device and ran out the front door to an alley on the west side of the store, then went north.
Patel eventually went back inside and contacted police. Murley said officers arrived less than a minute after the call was received but were not able to locate the suspect.
He said security video shows the robber to be a white male approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall.
“We’re trying to determine how many lottery tickets he took and what kind,” said Murley. “We’ve been in touch with the lottery commission trying to get all that figured out.”
Nothing else was taken.
Trailer Stolen                in 2014 Recovered 
Police are trying to find out more about a 20-foot-long oilfield flatbed trailer that was stolen in 2014 from MWD Construction in the 600 block of W. Commerce Road and was recovered Friday by Washita County Deputy Sheriff Kelby Peoples.
Murley said the company had two trailers, both identical except for serial numbers, and the one that wasn’t stolen was erroneously reported as the one stolen. Consequently, the serial number of the stolen one was never entered into national crime records so it wasn’t found.
It was recovered by Peoples from a residence in Canute about 10:45 a.m. Friday. He contacted MWD which checked and found that it really was missing. Murley said when it was stolen it had a mounted pressure washer and a tank on it, with the whole rig worth about $20,000.
Peoples recovered only the trailer which was valued at about $8,000.
rape allegations false
Police also took a report of a rape Friday, but Murley said investigators determined it wasn’t really a rape. He said the alleged victim finally admitted it was consensual sex.
“She had gone with a guy to do some dope and basically got caught by her boyfriend,” he said, adding that the female may have mental issues. Consequently, he indicated no names will be released.
Batteries pilfered
The local Atwoods store recently reported the theft of 10 to 15 old batteries believed to be worth less than $10 apiece. Murley said they were stored outside in a flimsy cage and the thief, or thieves, knocked the lock off and took the whole bunch.
    

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