Something tells me he didn't think this through clearly.
Oklahoma City police trying to identify a robbery suspect in a convenience store robbery ended up arresting the suspect at the Oklahoma County Courthouse after he attempted to rob the snack bar.
The day before the arrest, police received a robbery call from a gas station on North Pennsylvania Avenue. When they arrived, a store clerk told them that a man had robbed a box of cigarettes from the store. During an altercation with the clerk, the robber threatened to shoot him.
Detectives were able to use surveillance video and a partial tag number to identify a potential suspect. The soon discovered that the man, identified as Robert Lee Bruner, 51, was expected to appear at the Oklahoma County Courthouse the following day on a charge of larceny from a retailer last October.
The detectives went to the courthouse to find Bruner to see if they could tail him to a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle used in the gas station robbery. They say Bruner showed up at court, but left before his case could be heard, leading to a bench warrant for his arrest on failure to appear.
Although the suspect was not in court when he was supposed to be, he had not yet left the courthouse. Instead, he went to a snack bar as detectives waited to follow him out of the building.
While detectives waited, they heard a commotion inside the courthouse snack bar and turned a corner to find their suspect rushing from the snack bar with a "large amount of cash" in his hand. A snack bar employee told police that the man had ordered a breakfast sandwich. As she turned to make his meal, the man went into the snack bar office and began taking money from a safe.
Officers and a nearby attorney apprehended Bruner, who was arrested and booked into the Oklahoma County Jail, where he is held without bond on two complaints of second degree robbery.
Bruner is no stranger to the criminal justice system. His court record dates back to 1986 and includes several theft convictions as well as charges of domestic violence, drug trafficking, and possession of contraband in a penal institution.
These latest charges could land the suspect back in prison for quite some time. Each count of second degree robbery carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Image credit: Oklahoma County Clerk
