Freddie Green, 26, was arrested just after midnight Tuesday on charges of armed robbery and making false statements and concealing facts in connection with the robbery of the Dawson Road Shoe Station, according to jail records. He was still being held in the jail as of Wednesday evening, a jailer said.
There may be additional arrests in the case, Albany Police Department spokesperson Phyllis Banks-Whitley said.
The robbers made off with cash, according to a police report.
Green initially told police Monday night that a man dropped from the ceiling in the men’s restroom and bashed him in the head with a shotgun before forcing him to the manager’s office, which was locked from the inside because manager Ta’Tanisha Turner was inside counting money.
Turner told police she opened the door after hearing a crash and Green yelling and found another man pointing a shotgun at her. The shotgun-wielding robber then tied the two up in the manager’s office, Turner told police.
Police noted in their report that they noticed where Green had crashed through the ceiling tiles from climbing through the ceiling to get out of the manager’s office, but there were no disturbed tiles in the store’s restrooms. Police also noted that there was no visible forced entry from the store’s roof.
Any one with information pertaining to the case can call (229) 436-TIPS.
Lee County and Albany police officials say there hasn’t been an unusual trend developing in “internal” thefts or robberies.
In late February, a Chili’s employee told police he was robbed and beaten by six men in the parking lot of the store, but later confessed to police he made the story up and that a former Chili’s employee snatched about $60 from him as payment on a football wager.
“I mean, it happens. Employee theft, false reports are something that do happen from time to time, but this is the first one we’ve had in a while,” said Lee County Chief Deputy Dennis Parker. “It’s not a trend or a rash of them, but it is something that happens from time to time.”
Banks-Whitley said the APD had also not seen a particular increase in internal thefts or robberies.
Parker pointed out that employee theft typically makes up about 70 percent of a store’s losses.