A middle-age robber is going around the Twin Cities area snatching up hundreds of dollars in cigarettes at a time in stores, punching the clerk and taking off.
The string of crimes has been going for about a month, and authorities have yet to catch the suspect.
In one robbery, early in the evening of Feb. 5, the man asked the clerk at a SuperAmerica at 2295 Rice Street in Roseville for three cartons of Newport 100's valued at $260, police in that city said.
"When the cashier placed the cartons on the counter, the suspect grabbed the cartons and punched the cashier's face and fled the store," police said in a statement. He got away in a four-door silver Chevrolet Impala or Pontiac Bonneville, police said.
"There have been a dozen or more metro robberies involving the same suspect" and the same modus operandi in the past month, the police statement continued.
Police described the suspect as black, about 50 years old, 6 foot 1 and of average build, bald head and with closely shaved facial hair and a slight mustache. In the Roseville robbery, he was wearing a black vested jacket, dark gray pants, black hooded sweatshirt and white gym shoes.
Anyone with information about any of these robberies should call 911, contact CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or send a text that reads Tips 674 plus the information to 274637 (CRIMES). Information leading to an arrest could result in a reward.
