Three charged in Subway robbery

Dothan police say the following robbery and attempted robbery cases have been solved as a result of the weekend arrests of suspects in the armed robbery of a Dothan Subway restaurant.

n Robbery at Subway, 1557 Westgate Parkway, Tuesday, Feb, 24

Duane Herring said he happened to be at the right place at the right time on Saturday.

Herring, who serves as a lieutenant with the Dothan Police Department, said he came across what appeared to be a robbery in progress at a Dothan Subway restaurant. Herring said he was one of several extra patrol units dispatched across the city of Dothan to help try to curtail the city’s armed robberies.

“He was in all black, and his head was covered with something black,” Herring said. “He had a gun in his hand. He went to the counter, and I watched him point the gun at the clerk.”

As the masked man left the Honeysuckle Road store, Herring ordered him to stop, but the gunman dove into some woods between a nearby office complex.

“It didn’t appear he was in there buying a Subway sandwich,” Herring said.

Dothan Police Chief John Powell said Monday at a press conference that Herring had called for backup and officers were on scene in time to capture three men they say were involved in the robbery. Powell said three men have been charged with the armed robbery of the Subway restaurant Saturday around 8:45 p.m.

Powell said a police K-9 captured and bit Christopher Aaron Smith after he attempted to escape the area. Herring said two other men were found waiting at a nearby office complex in a Ford Sport Utility Vehicle. Dothan police also arrested Perry Dale Collins, 23, and Kenneth Lee McGlon, Jr., 23, both of Scottsdale Court, in Kinsey. All three men face at least one count of felony first-degree robbery.

Powell said the arrests have also solved as many as nine armed robberies over the past month of Dothan businesses, including two other Subway restaurants.

“We have confessions in all those robberies,” Powell said.

Powell declined to say who has confessed to the robberies, only that police have confessions to the other robberies. He said none of the men have been charged with the other robberies, but more charges are pending. Smith, 25, of Denton Road, Collins and McGlon were all taken to the Dothan City Jail.

“I think it’s accentuated now with the economy the way it is right now,” Powell said. “I hope it sends a message they won’t want to commit these type of crimes in the city of Dothan.”

Herring said he was part of extra patrols dispatched across the city to add increased visibility and police presence as a deterrent to crime. He said the patrol officers drove across the city, and stopped by convenience stores and other businesses checking on the clerks.

“We would patrol these potential targets trying to keep an eye on them,” Herring said.

Powell said the Dothan Police Department was assisted by the Houston County District Attorney’s Office and the Houston County Sheriff’s Office.

“This was a team effort, it was a collaboration of everybody that showed up,” Herring said.