Dateline: November 1, 2007

Allsup's robber nabbed 

A Clarendon man was still in custody Monday after he reportedly robbed the Allsup’s convenience store here last week and fled in a stolen city vehicle.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said 40-year-old Arthur Harris is facing a first-degree felony for aggravated robbery and a state jail felony for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Just before midnight last Wednesday, Harris allegedly entered Allsup’s and went behind the counter where he brandished a box knife and ordered the clerk to empty the cash drawer. He was later apprehended at 12:11 a.m. across the street in the parking lot of the Clarendon Outpost in a city truck.

Authorities recovered both the box knife and approximately $330. Harris was arrested and booked into the Donley County Jail. He was arraigned Thursday by Donley County Judge Jack Hall and bond was set at a total of $55,000.

Blackburn said a sheriff’s deputy had stopped Harris in the city truck at 10:20 Wednesday night, and Harris told the officer he had started reading water meters for the city. The officer had the dispatcher contact City Superintendent Jim Roberts to inquire if the city had someone reading meters after hours. He replied that they did.

But no one mentioned Harris by name, and Roberts was referring to a city employee who had finished reading meters about 7:30 p.m. that night, Blackburn said. The employee had returned the truck to the City Barn and parked it behind a locked gate. It appears Harris cut through the fence to get to the truck, the sheriff said.

At the time of the crime, Harris was out on bond on a Hall County charge of escape. He had left custody there while serving punishment for a child support charge.