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Person detained in Green Line robberies

May 8, 2012

Police have confirmed that a “person of interest” has been detained in connection with the robbery spree over the last two weeks at two Green Line Cafe locations and the Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Rumors began circulating this afternoon that police had caught the so-called “Green Line robber.”

“There is a person of interest that we are speaking with,” said Lt. John Walker of the Southwest Detectives. Another police source said that warrants will soon be issued in the case. “It’s him,” the source said.

As of 1:30 p.m. no charges had been filed.

The Green Line Cafe on Lancaster Avenue in Powelton was robbed at gunpoint twice last week and the location at 45th and Locust was robbed on April 26. Police believe the suspect in that case also robbed the Chipotle Mexican Grill at 3925 Walnut St. on Sunday night.

We will pass along more details when we get them.

6 Comments For This Post

  1. shazoooo! Says:

    If it’s him, that’s fantastic news!

  2. brendan Says:

    I am with shazoooo. The sooner this madness is over the better. I hate thinking that someone is threatening coffee shop employees making minimum wage and all for maybe a few hundred bucks. If this is the guy I hope he does some serious time. Multiple armed robberies with a deadly weapon are not something you give a slap on the wrist for.

  3. Christina Says:

    The first robbery netted the guy $1000 cash, which is def. more than ‘maybe a few hundred.’ I never like acknowledging how much was taken b/c I hate that people know how much is in any establishment on any given night, but I guess everyone knows by now (other than you, haha. 🙂 )

    Dude has to figure Chipotle, on Penn’s campus, has a surveillance camera, right?

  4. shazoooo! Says:

    I’m glad it’s the same guy instead of 3 separate people, honestly

  5. Douglas Witmer, Green Line co-owner Says:

    For what it’s worth, our employee reported to the police that he thought $1000 was taken in the first incident. In fact, it was not nearly that much.

  6. brendan Says:

    Christina, I would be very surprised if a coffee shop had that much cash lying around. $1000 would be a lot of cups of coffee sold and I am assuming that the shop would make daily deposits at the bank if they were bringing in that much cash a day. But even if you are right that the guy netted $1000 the first time my point is still the same. A few hundred dollars or even a couple of thousand of dollars is not chump change, but it is also not worth doing time in prison and possibly, God forbid, hurting or killing someone for. I would love to get an extra $1000 in my bank right now as that is about two weeks to a months salary for your average employed west philadelphian. But when you do the math and consider that multiple armed robberies with a deadly weapon will land you at a minimum 5 years in prison and most likely more, it boils down to this guy making a few cents a day for every day he will be in prison. And when he gets out he will be unemployable. So yeah, the guy has made a huge mistake and he has potentially risked the lives of innocent coffee shop employees making a modest wage. If he netted $2000 or even an unbelievable $3000, it wouldn’t make it any better of a decision for him.

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