Robbery call leads to quick arrest
by Kootenai Valley Record
February 12, 2010
A robbery suspect made it just a single block from the scene of the crime Sunday evening before falling into police custody as the result of a traffic stop.
Dale Dean Schroeder, 40, of Santa Barbara, Calif., was arrested on charges of robbery and misdemeanor drug possession. Also arrested was another California man, John David Lardizabal, 47, on charges of running a red light, driving with a suspended license and no insurance, felony drug possession and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
Although Lardizabal was driving the car in which Schroeder was a passenger, there was no indication that Lardizabal was involved in the robbery that had been reported just two minutes before and one block away at Aitken’s Quik Stop at the corner of California Avenue and Highway 2, said Detective Capt. Jim Sweet of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
An Aitken’s employee made a 911 call reporting the robbery at 6:46 p.m. At 6:48, Deputy Jason Place initiated a traffic stop on a 1979 Chevrolet pickup that ran a red light at the intersection of Mineral Avenue and Highway 2. Place was making the stop before he even got word of the robbery, Sweet said.
"As the call went out, Jason had his light bar going," he said.
Schroeder matched the description provided by the clerk at Aitken’s, Sweet said. The clerk told investigating officers that she believed the robber was armed.
"At this point we don’t believe that he brandished a weapon, but he implied that he had one," Sweet said.
The robber left the scene with "a few hundred dollars" from the cash register, Sweet said.
The case could easily have turned into a "whodunit" had Place not been observant and made the traffic stop before the vehicle disappeared into a residential neighborhood, Sweet said.
"It was good timing for us and bad timing for them," he said.
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Editor’s Note: See the February 9, 2010 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Tuesdays, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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