THIRD TIME IN LESS THAN A WEEK: Posted Mansfield business ''brutally'' robbed

Volunteers in Mansfield have told OFCC that all three Puffs Cigarette and Tobacco stores in Mansfield are owned by the same individual, and that "no-guns" signs barring CHL-holders went up just a short time ago.

June 11, 2004
Mansfield News Journal

ONTARIO -- City police are looking for a suspect they say brutally attacked a clerk at Puffs Cigarette and Tobacco shop a little after 8 p.m. Wednesday, took $700 from a cash register and fled east on foot.

A security tape captured the attack and robbery on video and police have released a picture of the suspect. The man is in his late 20s or early 30s, about 6-feet tall and weighs between 230 and 250 pounds.

According to Detective Riley Snavely, the man entered the August Drive store, near Home Depot, at about 8 p.m. He purchased a couple of cigars and when the clerk opened the cash register to give the man change, he slugged her.

"It was a right hook that knocked her about 8 feet," Snavely said. "It was brutal."

It's the third time in less than a week the Puffs store has been robbed.

At 5:46 a.m. Sunday, two men broke through a glass door and stole cigarettes worth about $700. At 12:09 a.m. Monday, a man broke into the store via a window. He carried a plastic container and took cigarettes worth more than $1,500. Both crimes were captured on the store security tape and Snavely thinks the robberies are linked.

But he said they may not be linked to Wednesday night's robbery.

"There have been a rash of similar break-ins around the county," Snavely said. "Unfortunately, I don't think they're going to end until someone gets caught."

Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call the Ontario Police Department at (419) 529-3068.