Robbery

A Woman Says She Beat the Hell Out of Knife-Wielding Attacker at White Rock Last Night

White Rock Lake has become a favored hunting ground for knife-wielding bandits. At the end of March, one made off with a cell phone and bicycle from kids walking along the path cutting through the park below the dam. Two weeks later, at almost the same spot, a young couple was confronted by a man wi ... More >>

Two Robbers Tied Up a 76-Year-Old at His Lakewood Home, Stole His TV and Class Ring

The man who knocked on David Goldman's door at 9:30 last night didn't look like trouble. He was fairly young, in his mid-20s, "dressed neat, clean-shaven and (with) a good haircut," the 76-year-old later told police, and he asked the price on the 1996 Mercedes for sale in the driveway. Two grand? Th ... More >>

Dallas Got an Early Start on Weekend Crime With Diaper Bag Robbery, a Sort-of Kidnapping, and a Craigslist Heist

Typically, Dallas saves its wilder side for the weekend. That's when, once the booze and drugs are flowing in earnest, the weird crimes tend to happen. But the weekend arrived early, with police reporting an armed diaper bag robbery, a Craigslist heist and a low-budget movie production scaring the b ... More >>

The Tea Party Knows Who to Blame for Dallas PD's Slow Response: Mexicans

The Dallas Police Department still hasn't given a very satisfying explanation for why it took officers so long to respond to an armed robbery and shooting at a West Dallas grocery on Sunday. Partly it was the 911 caller's heavy accent, partly that officers were working what they thought was a separa ... More >>

Dallas Police Blame 911 Caller's "Heavy Accent" for 75-Minute Response to Armed Robbery

On Sunday night, four men tried to rob Pepe's Grocery on Bernal Drive in West Dallas. One of them was carrying an assault rifle, but the manager of the closed store drew first, hitting his target with two shots from his .38. The would-be robbers fled, leaving a trail of blood behind. The manager, J ... More >>

Katy Trail Robber's Tale of PCP Addiction, "Purse Snatching" Fails to Win Jury's Sympathy

Dominique Thornton did not testify in his trial for charges that he committed a string of armed robberies along the Katy Trail last May. It probably wouldn't have done any good. He was IDed by victims as the gunman in the heists, and police found Thornton's thumbprint on a stolen purse they later re ... More >>

Three Gunman Tried to Rob a Retired Cop Near White Rock, Ran Away When He Drew First

As he walked along the sidewalk of his Far East Dallas apartment complex at 5:15 on Easter morning, a 24-year-old man heard someone call out from behind, asking him to hold up. He turned and saw three Hispanic men, clad in identical white T-shirts, hop out of a black Toyota Corolla. They simultaneo ... More >>

Stacey Hargraves' Mary Kay Job Didn't Pay Well, So He Became a Terrible Bank Robber

Stacey Hargraves was pulling in $300 per week from his job in the sanitation department at Mary Kay, but it never seemed to stretch far enough to support his wife, children and his propensity to gamble and go to sporting events. And so, according to the FBI, he walked into the Comerica Bank on Illi ... More >>

The Story of the Handsome Guy Bandit Was Made for Hollywood*

(*The Handsome Guy Bandit thinks so, anyway.)

Chief Brown's Increasingly Hollow Response to DPD's Glaring Problems

On Sunday, the Morning News' Tanya Eiserer took a lengthy peek at DPD staffing trends; what she found can best be described as alarming. Over the past two years, the number of detectives assigned to work the city's most pressing crimes has plummeted by 46 percent. The number of homicide detectives ... More >>

Two Guys Stole A Case of Beer Tuesday, But Not Before Dodging a Bullet, Wrecking a Car, Trying to Run Someone Over

Sixto Salinas and his 18-year-old daughter were about to enter Sunny Food Mart at 9 p.m. Tuesday when they were nearly knocked over by two men rushing out of the store. They gleaned from a witness inside that the two men had just robbed the store (police classified it as theft), knocking over a cust ... More >>

Three Men Robbed a Dallas Liquor Store with an AK-47, Then the Clerk Shot Back (Video)

If someone rolled into Unfair Park HQ and pointed an assault rifle at me while they stole my $800 and seven packs of Newports, I'd probably piss my pants and then go become a monk or a farmer, or maybe a farmer-monk. The owner of McGriff's Beer & Wine are not so fainthearted.

DPD Announces Arrest of Gun-Waving Guy In Metro PCS Robbery

Dallas police just announced that they've arrested one of the two men suspected in the May 28 robbery of a Metro PCS store. That man is George Tucker, and he can be seen in the video above waving a gun at the store employees, a male customer, and, at one point around 3:07 or so, dangerously near the ... More >>

New National Database Shows Trends in Wrongful Convictions Across the Country

As most people who follow the news know by now, since Craig Watkins became Dallas County district attorney in 2007, 33 local men have been exonerated of crimes they didn't commit. But what does this number mean in the context of the rest of the nation, and what are the common issues that lead to wro ... More >>

Dallas Police Has Even More Explanation for its Response to That Whole Katy Trail Thing

The Dallas Police Department is continuing to explain away -- and maybe overcompensate for -- their initial silence concerning the armed robberies on the Katy Trail and the dozen-or-so incidents police believe they're linked to.A pair of press releases from police hit the inbox yesterday evening, on ... More >>

In the Katy Trail Robberies, Police Reports Paint Portrait of Bumbling, Brazen Criminals

We know a lot more about the string of recent armed robberies at the Katy Trail since the Dallas Police Department initially released some details on the incidents yesterday. We know, for example, that police think all were committed by a pair of black men in their 20s who were driving a silver, fou ... More >>

A Dallas Cab Driver Had Pretty Much the Worst Late-Night Hook-Up Ever Last Night

Around 3 a.m. today, a cab driver called the Dallas police to report that he'd been carjacked after dropping off a passenger. He couldn't specify just where he'd been when this happened, and he didn't know the license plate number of the cab, only the unit number. Upon arriving at the scene, DPD d ... More >>

Anthony Blue, Bank Robber Turned in by Mom, Gets Five Years. Think He'll Write Home?

It was back in January when we first introduced you to young Anthony Blue, a 19-year-old man trying to make a go in the bank-robbing field. He was off to a decent start, actually: In June of last year, he had walked into a Garland bank and slipped the teller a note -- "50's 100's and no body gets hu ... More >>

Dallas County Does a Three-Fer in Exonerations

The number of convicts being freed after serving prison time for crimes they didn't commit keeps mounting in Dallas County, with Friday bringing a rare triple exoneration for three men wrongly accused of robbery. On November 17, 1994, five teenagers roamed the parking lot near the Eckerd drugstore ... More >>

19-Year-Old Garland Man Pleads Guilty to Being a Bank Robber After His Mom Turns Him In

​That photo you see at right comes from the F.B.I.'s Bandit Tracker website, which we've perused in the past. It was snapped June 14 of last year at a State Bank of Texas branch in Garland, off IH-30. The bandit in question: 19-year-old Anthony Blue of Garland. Which we now know thanks to Anthony' ... More >>

Feds' Complaint Adds More Screenplay Details Leading to "Handsome Guy" Bandit's Arrest

​On Tuesday Mike Byrd provided us with his high-speed, first-hand account of how, along a rural stretch of Mississippi highway, the sheriff there used his .40-cal Sig Sauer to shoot out the tire of a fleeing Steven Milam, the Tyler casket salesmen better known as the "Handsome Guy" Bandit who poli ... More >>

So Close to Getting Away With Armored Truck Robbery, This Is What Finally Did Them In

​The U.S. Attorney's Office sends word that a man named Ennis Harris Jackson will be going to federal prison for more than 17 years for his role in holding up a Loomis armored truck in May 2010 outside a Mesquite Bank of America branch. Jackson was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Barbar ... More >>

According to the Feds, the (Repetitive) Life and (Precarious) Times of a Coke Kingpin in Dallas

An alleged coke trafficker used this Knox-Henderson-area apartment as his stash house.​If, by any chance, you spent the first few months of this year blowing lines in the bathroom of various clubs around town, there's a decent chance the source of your cocaine was Christian "Cri Cri" Ocana, wh ... More >>

DPD Needs Help ID'ing Men Responsible For Series of Violent Convenience Store Robberies

One of the armed suspects hopping the counter at Kilo's Grocery last week​On the other side are two surveillance cam videos the Dallas Police Department just posted to YouTube as part of its ongoing effort to enlist the public whenever the department needs some extra eyeballs. In this instance, th ... More >>

The Genius Who Robbed Wells Fargo on Lemmon Avenue Gets (More) Time in Prison

One man's gub is another man's bom.​For those who've forgotten the now-legendary tale of Nathan Wayne Pugh, a 49-year-old Sachse man, allow me to recap. On July 26, Pugh went into the Wells Fargo at 4332 Lemon Avenue carrying a bag from a fast-food restaurant. He walked up to the teller and told h ... More >>

Know These Men? Dallas PD Has Two Videos It Would Like You to Watch This Morning.

Back to back, the Dallas Police Department sent two videos this morning while wondering: Do you recognize these suspects? The man in the video above -- thought to be somewhere between 25 and 30 years old, 5-foot-5 and around 140 to 150 pounds -- is actually suspected in 11 robberies in North Dallas, ... More >>

Bar Owners On Edge Following Another Armed Robbery. But DPD Has One Suspect in Custody.

​Last week came word: The Old Monk and The Dallasite had been robbed at gunpoint. Dallas police did not think the two were related -- the former was violently robbed by three men who came in through the back door after hours; the latter, by a lone gunman who, moments earlier, had been drinking at ... More >>

In the Last Two Days, the Dallasite and The Old Monk Were Robbed at Gunpoint

​Danny Balis just called with the heads-up: In the last two days, two local bars have been robbed at gunpoint. Danny wondered if perhaps they were related.According to Dallas Police reports, the first stick-em-up occurred around 1 a.m. Tuesday at the Dallasite on Bryan Street, across the street fr ... More >>

A Bank Robbery, With a Baby on Board, Lands Getaway Driver a 22-Year Prison Sentence

Bandit TrackerUnrelated, but while we're on the subject, Austin PD's looking for a man who last week robbed a bank wearing a George Bush mask.​Surely you recall the tale of Inequa Rushing and Waylon McDonald? No? Then a refresher: In late January, the twosome robbed a bank at East R.L. Thornton Fr ... More >>

DPD Now Says It Will Investigate Weekend Assaults Near Cedar Springs As Hate Crimes

​At midnight Saturday, two men were walking along the 2700 block of Throckmorton Street toward Cedar Springs Road when they were attacked by four men wielding baseball bats. The two men had their wallets and a cell phone stolen, according to the police report; one suffered a broken jaw. They both ... More >>

Someone at the F.B.I.'s Having Way Too Much Fun Naming Bank Robbers

Earlier this month, the so-called Billy Mays Bandit robbed a Wells Fargo on S. University in Fort Worth.​This morning's New York Times heralds the debut of the F.B.I.'s Web site featuring the most-wanted bank robbers in New York and New Jersey. Of course, that's old news 'round these here parts: T ... More >>

Couple Who Left Premature Infant in Car During East Dallas Bank Robbery Indicted

​Perhaps you recall the recent tale of Inequa Rushing and Waylon McDonald, who, late last month, robbed a bank at East R.L. Thornton Freeway and Grand Avenue -- and left a baby in the backseat, not to mention ID in the parking lot. It merited a brief mention in the regional roundup, but the U.S. A ... More >>

DPD's On the Lookout For One Tony Romo

No, not that one. The one featured in this video the Dallas Police Department just posted, in which a Big C convenience store at 2240 Irving Boulevard is robbed at gunpoint by two men, one of whom is a 21-year-old named Anthony Romo. (His accomplice is, thus far, unidentified by DPD.)According to Ke ... More >>

Freddy Lee Foots Meets the Long Arm of the Law (Again and Again)

Notorious 'Texas Seven' Try to Save One of Their Own By Insulting Him

Dallas Police Department Discovers the World Wide Interwebs

Better Than a Post Office Wall

Leprechaun Bandit Admits Stealing

Here's a Tip: When You Rob a Bank, Always Check for the Tracking Device

DPD Not Jacking Around

All the Pretty Horses...

Plus: Gone FIshing

Robbers on High Street

Tree City (New Line Records)

Minyard Math

How hard is it to dial 9, then 1, then 1?

The Way of the Gun

The untold story of why Lenell Geter was freed

What a Crime

The late-night carjacking was violent, but the legal tactics are the real rough stuff

Where are they now?

Allied Theatre's Man of the Moment dips expertly into two painful pasts

Questions of innocence

Odell Barnes is just one of many inmates with questionable convictions facing the death penalty

The Hare, The Tortoise

Channel 5's Marty Griggin and Channel 8's Robert Riggs race for ratings as their stations struggle for dominance of local television news

Playing Hardball

The Feds pitch a shutout in the area's first 'three strikes' case

Against all odds

Defense attorney girds for battle against U.S. Attorney Coggins