One arrested in robbery of Dollar General Store
Norris Police released this surveillance photo of the man who robbed the Dollar General store on Andersonville Highway in Norris at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, July 1, escaping with $127.
Chief of Police Mike Poole said Monday that New Tazewell Police on Saturday stopped a car matching the description of the one the perpetrator was driving when the Dollar General was robbed, and took the driver into custody on other, unrelated charges out of another jurisdiction.
“The New Tazewell officer recognized the car from an all-points bulletin we put out and made the arrest,” Poole said.
The suspect is from Campbell County, Poole said. His name was not immediately released because Norris Police were still drawing up warrants to take before a judge, but the man will remain in custody because of the warrants against him elsewhere, the chief said.
In a news release Thursday afternoon, Norris Police said that “a 30-to-40 year old white male approximately 6 feet tall robbed the Dollar General Store located at 3334 Andersonville Hwy. in Norris at gunpoint.”
The release also said the man “was driving an early 2000s Chevrolet Malibu, silver in color, with hub caps missing on the left (driver’s) side.” The car allegedly belonged to one of the suspect’s family members, Poole said
Poole said Monday that the robber walked out with $127 in cash stolen from the store, and that the weapon he was pointing at the store clerk was “most likely a pellet gun.”
The man also allegedly tried to rob an elderly man at the TVA levy area on River Road in Norris a few minutes before robbing the Dollar General store, Poole said. That man declined to press charges and did not want to be identified, he added.
Norris Police were assisted by multiple area law-enforcement agencies in the investigation of the Dollar General robbery, Poole said, including the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and Detective Bobby Hubbs, the Rocky Top, Clinton, Oak Ridge and New Tazewell police departments, and the Campbell County, Knox County and Claiborne County Sheriff’s Offices.
“We want to thank the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Russell Barker for providing additional support allowing us to track down leads faster,” Chief Poole said. “Detective Bobby Hubbs worked with me relentlessly on this case.
“This is a perfect example of what can happen when multiple agencies work together on situations like this,” Poole said. “They allowed us to resolve this case so quickly.”