Cedar Springs robber 'pretty brazen'

CEDAR SPRINGS, Mich. (WOOD) - First it was the Admiral gas station at the corner of Muskegon and Main in Cedar Springs. Then it was the Kent Theater and the Family Video store. Three times in a week, a similar-looking suspect held up these businesses and gotten away.

But now there's surveillance video.

"He seems nervous," Cedar Springs Police Chief Roger Parent told 24 Hour News 8 as he showed the surveillance video from the Admiral gas station. "No weapon was ever seen" before he robbed the station and fled.

But he seemed to count the money before he left.

The suspect is a white man about 30 years old and about 160 pounds, Parent said.

The Kent Theater was robbed on Dec. 29, the Family Video store on New Year's Eve . At that heist, the robber pulled out a 5-6 inch hunting knife on the cashier.

"The robberies are at 9, 10 o'clock at night when there's customer activity going on, a lot of traffic in the city," the chief said. "Which is sort of telling us it's somebody that has a need for money on a regular basis and they're pretty brazen."

In each instance, the suspect covered his face, wearing either a stocking cap with eye holes cut out or a white cloth with eye holes cut out. Each time he fled quickly and may have used a getaway car.

Parent said investigators feel a vehicle is involved, but "we don't know if that means there's a second person involved."

He wants citizens to be on the lookout. "If you see somebody parking a car and simply walking away down the street, that's suspicious."

The investigation continues -- and now police know what he looks like.