WILMINGTON — A convenience store on the town’s west side was robbed Saturday morning and a suspect was apprehended shortly afterward.
Wilmington police arrested Amanda Foley, 30, of Clinton County, and charged her with aggravated robbery. Further investigation into the incident is pending, WPD Sgt. Ron Fithen said Sunday.
About 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Shop & Go Food Mart located at the corner of West Locust Street and Wayne Road (State Route 73 West) a woman came up to the clerk and laid down a piece of paper on the counter. It read, ‘Give me all the money in the register or I will kill you and don’t try to be a hero’, said Jodi Ralston who was the clerk who was robbed.
“And I tried to be a hero,” Rolston said sarcastically. “I tried to talk her out of it because I really felt she didn’t have a weapon.”
“And I was just saying, ‘Do you really want to do this? There’s got to be some way we can help you or fix this problem you’ve got. I’m not trying to be a hero,’ and she said ‘yes you are,’ and I said ‘No, there’s got to be a way to fix this, we can help you. What can I do for you’,” related Rolston.
“Then she [suspect] reached for her pocket, and I put my hands up and said ‘OK fine’ and so then I gave her all the money in my register,” Rolston said.
The suspect then asked for specific brands of cigarettes and Rolston gave her “a bunch.”
The suspect grabbed the cigarettes and money and maybe the note and ran off, said the clerk.
Rolston called 911 walking out of the store and yelled at two customers getting gas that she had just been robbed and they started chasing the suspect, added Ralston. The suspect ran down to the corner but dropped a lot of cigarettes, and stopped and backed up to retrieve them, remarked Ralston.
Police caught the suspect and Rolston identified Foley as the person who robbed the store.
Ralston has worked at Shop & Go Food Mart since May.
“I tried to keep calm, I didn’t want her to do it because now she’s going to face a lot of time. That’s what I didn’t want her to do.”
The suspect had on a wool cap and sunglasses and a big brown jacket, with her hair all pulled up in the cap.
The suspect, said Ralston, is a former employee at the store.
When asked whether she recognized the suspect, Ralston said “yes and no, because her hair was all pulled up under the hat.”
“I’ve been afraid of this, especially the other night. I had a guy in here high, helped him out, bought him a can of fruit, took care of him,” she said.
“I’m telling you, us clerks in town, we’re social workers. The city needs to know that.”
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
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