05 January 2006
barista bandits!
see what a dangerous place i live in? even my COFFEE drinking habits might not be safe! my favorite line? "I bet they were strung out on something other than caffeine"! (taken from the NYTimes 1/5/06, names edited out to avoid g00gling!)
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SEATTLE, Jan. 4 - The culprits were not after cappuccino, but baristas figured prominently in their robbery spree across the Seattle area - and in their apparent undoing.
J. R., [...], a veteran barista, spotted a suspect in espresso stand robberies.
Baristas at as many as 10 drive-up espresso stands, as ubiquitous here in the nation's coffee capital as McDonald's are, were robbed at gunpoint last month. In each case, less than $200 was taken and the victim was a young woman, the authorities said.
But acting on a tip from a barista on the lookout for suspicious customers, the police in Bellevue last week arrested a fugitive from Brooklyn and a woman from Oklahoma, now considered the prime suspects in the crimes.
"I bet they were strung out on something other than caffeine," said M.C., a spokesman for the police in Bellevue, east of here, which is working the "barista bandits" case, as it is known among the authorities, with the Seattle police and several other police departments.
The suspects were apprehended after the tipster [...] reported seeing a person "with a fine beard" when she was shopping in the aisles of a Safeway near the coffee hut she owns, [...] which was not among those involved in the holdups.
The police said the bearded person was actually a woman, [...] who was arrested while wearing a glued-on goatee and who had a fake gun, described as a realistic replica of a Beretta 9 millimeter, stuffed in her waistband. Ms. P. was charged with robbery in connection with a holdup at the Java the Hut in Pacific, Wash., the police said, and was being held on $70,000 bail in neighboring Pierce County.
Also arrested was P.J.S, 31, of Brooklyn, who the authorities said was wanted in New York for violating parole from a felony drug conviction. The police said Mr. S. was picked up with two knives and two sets of brass knuckles and was charged with obstructing justice and possession of a dangerous weapon, both misdemeanors. He was being held on $50,000 bail here in King County.
[...]
dandlioneyes at 11:07 am