Copyright 2006 P.G. Publishing Co.
By LYNDA GUYDON TAYLOR
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Some robbers use ski masks to disguise themselves, but this one chose duct tape to hide his face during a series of holdups over the weekend.
Nicole Ferrese, 19, said at first she and other employees thought it was a joke when a man walked into the Dairy Queen restaurant in Slippery Rock Township, Butler County Friday night with his forehead, cheeks and chin covered with duct tape.
He was wearing glasses and had his hand tucked in his shirt as if hiding a gun, and he told another cashier “give me all the money in the register,” she said.
When he approached the counter, he first acted as if he was going to order something before making the demand, she said.
He acted scared but remained calm, said Ms. Ferrese, who works as a cashier and cooks at the Dairy Queen.
The cashier handed over about $500, Ms. Ferrese said, to which the man replied, “ ‘I’m sorry. I have bills to pay.’ At the end, he said ‘thank you’ and left.”
Employees saw the man leave in a dark blue sport utility vehicle with a broken rear window, Ms. Ferrese said.
State police at the Butler barracks later arrested Joshua Scott Sunday, 23, of Portersville, Butler County.
He was charged with robbery, terroristic threats, driving under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police said similar robberies involving a duct tape-covered robber had occurred in Lawrence County at three 7-Eleven stores in Shenango, Neshannock and Ellwood City and a Red Apple store in Shenango early Friday.
As of yesterday, no one had been charged in the Lawrence County holdups.
For the Dairy Queen robbery, Mr. Sunday was arraigned before Saxonburg District Judge Susan E. Haggerty and placed in the Butler County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bond.
Police said Mr. Sunday also was involved in a crash on Route 22 near the Butler County line in Worth.