POMFRET — A suspected robber who police said was foiled by a bold clerk in one attempted holdup and dropped stolen money from another was arrested Monday night.
Ernest Lamiotte, 27, of Potvin Street in the Moosup section of Plainfield was charged with first-degree robbery, criminal attempt to commit second-degree robbery, sixth-degree larceny and two counts of breach of peace.
He was in custody early Tuesday on $10,000 bail and was scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court in Danielson later in the day.
According to state police, shortly before 8:30 p.m. Monday, troopers from the Troop D barracks responded to a report of a robbery at the Xtra Mart, 439 Hartford Turnpike in Killingly.
They talked to a female clerk who said a man came into the store and told her to empty the cash register, police said. He told her he’d give her half the money, she told troopers.
But she told the man to leave and threatened to trigger an alarm. The man complied and headed south toward Railroad Avenue, the clerk told troopers.
About 9:50 p.m., troopers were called to a second robbery, this one at an Xtra Mart at 19 Putnam Road in Pomfret. That man had implied he had a weapon and took money from the register, police said.
A police dog tracked the suspect’s scent and found the stolen money, police said. Meanwhile, troopers learned that the suspected robber matched the description of the man from the first attempted holdup, they said.
Troopers patrolling the area spotted the suspected robber on Woodstock Road, just north of Putnam Road, they said, and took him into custody.
By Christine Dempsey, Hartford Courant