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Two Suspects Charged With Last Week’s Molino Tom Thumb Robbery
September 24, 2009
A 19-year old male and a 15-year old middle school student were charged Wednesday in connection with the September 14 robbery of the Molino Tom Thumb.
Antonio Demetrius Ewing (pictured left), 19, of West Highway 4, was already in the Escambia County Jail when he was charged when warrants were served on him for robbery, larceny and criminal mischief property damage in connection with the robbery.
Another suspect, a 15-year old juvenile from Century, was also in jail when he was charged Wednesday. NorthEscambia.com’s policy is to not identify juveniles in criminal cases.
Surveillance video from the Tom Thumb (click here to watch) shows the 10 second robbery. Two people entered the front door, pushed a customer out the way, grabbed the entire case register and leave. One of the suspects is shown wearing a dark colored shirt, white socks on his hands and a camouflage bandanna around his face.
About three hours later, Escambia County deputies were called to a reported suspicious person and a possible burglary on Alger Road in Century. When they arrived, they found a Pontiac Firebird with no tag in the parking lot of the Gospel Light Temple on Alger Road in Century.
That is where they found Ewing, with a flat tire. He had apparently stolen several tires and tools from a nearby shed in order to try fix his flat. According to deputies, the juvenile what was with Ewing had been given a ride by passerby and was not with the car when they arrived.
While deputies were questioning Ewing about the stolen tires in Century, a deputy that was not in Century at the time realized he had read a comment on NorthEscambia.com’s story about the Tom Thumb robbery. The comment posted by someone with the name “me” mentioned a teal green Firebird with no tag being seen off the road on Sunshine Hill Road shortly after the robbery.
The deputy call Sheriff’s dispatchers on the the telephone, and dispatchers talked on the phone with deputies in Century — alerting them that they possibly had the Tom Thumb robber in custody. In the meantime, NorthEscambia.com was able to provide contact phone numbers for the poster “me” to deputies in Century. Deputies spoke to the poster’s husband in Molino, and he exactly described the car in that deputies had found in Century.
When deputies searched the location provided by the NorthEscambia.com reader on Sunshine Hill Road at Cedar Springs Road, they found the cash register from Monday morning’s robbery of the Tom Thumb, parts of the vehicle where the suspects had apparently hit a stump and money. White socks were also located in some brush.
In the car in Century, investigators discovered a camouflage shirt that appeared to match the one used in the robbery.
Ewing was taken into custody and transported to the Century Precinct of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office for questioning about the tire theft and about the Tom Thumb robbery. When deputies walked Ewing out of the Century Precinct to place him a cruiser to take him to jail, he ran. Deputies said Ewing ran across Highway 29 toward Century Woods Apartments where he lives. After a brief foot chase, Ewing was taken back into custody.
Ewing was charged with burglary, escape and larceny and had been held in the Escambia Jail on those charges since September 14.
The juvenile was originally arrested on larceny and burglary charges Monday when he appeared in court on an unrelated trespassing charge.
Pictured top: Investigator Frank Way discovered camouflage clothing in the back of a car in Century. A camouflage bandanna was used earlier that morning in the robbery of the Molino Tom Thumb. Pictured top inset: Ewing in the back of a deputy’s car in Century. Pictured bottom inset: The cash register recovered on Sunshine Hill Road at Cedar Springs Road. Pictured below: The September 14 Tom Thumb robbery scene in Molino. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
2 Responses to “Two Suspects Charged With Last Week’s Molino Tom Thumb Robbery”
Where law enforcement is thinned out due to rural areas and budget cuts, the methods of crime deterrent and evidence has to rely on spy technology to be more efficient then eyewitness accounts of these incidents. Law biding citizens will understand that in these times, innocent people have nothing to fear by more remote type law of enforcement such as video and area surveillance to help to deter crime against our businesses and civilian population.Otherwise we will be forced to begin more self protection and spawn vigilantism.This will will lead to a loss of our civil rights based on existing criminal rights. Let’s applaud all the video and law enforcement effort on this incident and remember if there was a death in this robbery we all would feel defeat for decent folks everywhere..
What a GREAT job!!