Tape reveals worker role in robbery, LR police say

— A Quiznos Sub employee accused of orchestrating a robbery of the sandwich shop Tuesday night overlooked one thing, police say: The outlet in west Little Rock is monitored by surveillance video.

The employee, 21-year-old Rachel Dawn Riley, told police that two men wearing masks entered the shop at 12911Cantrell Road through a back door after she opened it to take a cigarette break.

Then, she reported, one of them grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the front of the shop, where she saw the other robber beating her coworker, demanding money.

She and her co-worker, Daniel Swan, told police that eventually the robbers grabbedmoney out of the register and fled.

But that account didn't match the one eventually revealed by the surveillance tape, Little Rock Police Department detective R.A. Martin wrote in an arrest report.

"The video showed Ms. Riley unplugging the business phones before the robbery," Martin wrote. "The video also showed Ms. Riley open the back door of the business and as the subjects entered no one grabbed her hair or touched her."

Martin noted that Swan, who suffered a fractured cheekbone and eye socket, left the shop through the front door after the robbers fled. Riley, on the other hand, "took the tip jar and carried it out the rear door of the business along with her purse," Martin reported.

"Ms. Riley sat down [on] the rear step of the business and after a few seconds she returned ... with just her purse."

Robberies of retail establishments often are inside jobs, Police Department spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said, and most of those involved get caught.

This one was different becauseRiley's actions, according to police, led to the injuries her co-worker suffered.

"Two guys assaulted the employee, seriously," Hastings said.

Swan, who was treated at Baptist Health Medical Center and then released, couldn't be reached for comment.

The robbery began about 9 p.m. Tuesday, and initially Swan and an employee at a nearby business seemed to confirm Riley's version of events, according to reports.

The two robbers, described as black men wearing Halloween masks, entered the shop through the back door, Swan and Matt Gatlin told police. Gatlin, a worker atTropical Smoothie, next-door to Quiznos, reported that he saw one of the suspects holding open the back door.

"Mr. Gatlin asked the subject what he was doing and the subject began walking [toward] him" with "his hand in his waistband as if he had a gun," according to Martin's report.

Gatlin then ran back into Tropical Smoothie and locked the door. As he left through the front door, he encountered Swan, who informed him of the robbery.

The next day, other Quiznos employees found the tip jar in the alley behind the shop. Police collected it along with the surveillance tape.

They also picked up Riley of Little Rock just as she was arriving for her next shift about 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Riley, after saying she understood her rights, gave a taped statement in which she admitted her involvement in the robbery and the theft of the tip jar, Martin wrote in the arrest report.

She was being held in the Pulaski County jail with bail set at $250,000. She was charged with aggravated robbery and first-degree battery and could be sentenced to up to life in prison if convicted.

As for the two masked men, Hastings said they're being sought. "We've got some leads we're working on," he said.

Arkansas, Pages 13, 24 on 10/26/2007

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