Coffee stand robbed at gun point

Dec. 19, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Shortly before 6 a.m. Dec. 12, the tip jar at the Howling Dog Espresso crashed to the floor and hit the leg of an employee, who was cleaning. She looked up, and saw she was being robbed.

&#8220The tip jar hit her leg, and he was coming in the window with a gun,” said Kenny Jones, owner of the stand at Mile 1.8 Knik-Goose Bay Road. &#8220He was pretty much in through the window and said, ‘Open the cash register.' She hit the button and he stuffed the money in his clothes and left.”

The armed robber, described by police as a white male with a slender build, exited through the same window. According to a report from Mat-Su Crime Stoppers, he was wearing a faded black &#8220hoodie” and a mask.

Jones said the employee had about $2 in her tip jar, and the robber apparently swiped that, too, before coming in through the coffee window.

But, as the gunman fled to a waiting light-colored four-door sedan, he dropped the gun, Jones said.

&#8220I hope the gun was worth more than he got,” Jones said.

Jones said they open the stand at 5 a.m. more as a courtesy to early bird customers than for profit. Busy time for his coffee stand is almost guaranteed between 7 and 9 a.m., he said.

The business closed a week ago today while Alaska State Troopers investigated, and when it opened later that day, Jones' wife worked in place of their still-shaken employee.

&#8220I worked all the next day,” he said. &#8220She won't work alone in the dark hours anymore.”

Jones also said he and his wife have added some security precautions to their business since the robbery.

Mat-Su Crime Stoppers listed the robbery as the Crime of the Week and offered up $1,000 for a tip that leads to the arrest and indictment of suspects. There was most likely a second person in the getaway car, according the report.

Anyone with information on possible suspects in this or any other crime can leave anonymous tips at 745-3333, or submit a tip online at www.matsu-crimestoppers.org.

This was the second armed robbery in the Mat-Su this month. An Anchorage man was arrested two days after pulling a 9 mm Smith & Wesson at Chimo's Guns on Dec. 3.

Arrests were made in two of three other armed robberies this year, all of which happened in January. An Anchorage man arrested for murder robbed the Palmer Carrs store in mid-January, and at least two Valley men were arrested for the Jan. 11 robbery of the Susitna Professional Pharmacy.

The red-haired woman who shook as she held a black handgun and repeated, &#8220Hurry b—-, or I'm going to kill you,” when she robbed The Store in the Butte Jan. 23 remains at large. Troopers described that robber as a white female in her 20s, between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a husky build.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.