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News Update
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Police say teen robbed gas station for Mother's Day gift
BY DAVID LINTON / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Friday, May 9, 2008 2:49 PM EDT
NORTH ATTLEBORO - Police say a Plainville teen arrested overnight in the armed robbery of a gas station had blown all his money on drugs, and needed some fast cash to buy a Mother's Day present.
Timothy R. Sjoo, 18, of 15 Lakeside Dr. in Plainville, told police he spent his money earlier in the evening on cocaine, then held up the Sunoco gas station at Route 152 and Plain St. shortly after midnight, a prosecutor said today in Attleboro District Court.
"He needed some cash for his mother on Mother's Day," Assistant District Attorney Brian Carney said during a bail hearing.
Sjoo, who has no prior criminal record, was ordered held in jail on $15,000 cash bail.
Sjoo's lawyer, Paul Carlucci of Franklin, emphasized his client's clean record, and pleaded for a lower bail amount his family could afford.
He said Sjoo lives with his stepfather and grandmother.
"This is an out-of-character incident, your honor," Carlucci said. "It's an unfortunate incident."
Three Sjoo family members declined to comment before they left the courthouse.
Sjoo is accused of donning a paintball mask and robbing the Sunoco station about 12:15 a.m. with what later turned out to be a replica .45-caliber handgun.
He was apprehended at home within an hour, police said, thanks to Wrentham Police Lt. James Anderson, who was off-duty at the time and walked into the gas station seconds after the robbery.
"As he walked in, the clerk told him he had just been robbed," North Attleboro Detective Lt. David Dawes said.
Sjoo fled with an undisclosed amount of cash and lottery tickets he had put in a tan knapsack, then ran down Plain Street to a 2005 Jeep Wrangler parked in an alleyway between two buildings, prosecutors said.
Anderson, who will become Wrentham's new police chief July 6, followed the suspect down Plain Street and saw him approach the Jeep, Dawes said.
"The suspect fled into the woods when he realized he was being followed," Dawes said.
North Attleboro police officers Denis Donovan, James Malcolmson, Christiaan Grunewald and Sgt. Shane McKenna conducted a search of the woods with the help of two state police K-9 units and Plainville police.
Dawes, who investigated the robbery with Detective Daniel Arrighi, said police found the driver's license of the suspect inside the Jeep and apprehended him at home about two miles from the scene.
"We actually saw him in the living room taking his trousers off. He had just gotten to the house prior to the officers' arrival," Dawes said.
Sjoo gave police a videotaped confession and told police where they could find the knapsack and replica gun he used in the robbery, prosecutors said.
Police recovered the knapsack, an undisclosed amount of cash, lottery tickets, a plastic handgun, paintball mask and red hooded sweatshirt, Dawes said.
Dawes praised Anderson for following the robber and said his actions were instrumental in leading to the arrest of the suspect.
"He was actually really courageous. He chased somebody down the road who was armed with a gun," Dawes said.
Innocent pleas were entered by the court for Sjoo, who was charged with armed robbery while masked, a serious felony.
He is due back in court June 6 for a pretrial heaing.
- David Linton, Sun Chronicle staff
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