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AMERICAN FORK -- Police in American Fork are looking for an armed robber who held up a check cashing business over the weekend. They say the suspect actually committed another robbery first, which provided him with his disguise.
The robber at the check cashing business was dressed as a pizza deliveryman. He even left two pizzas behind. It turns out he actually stole the pizzas, his uniform and the delivery car from a real deliveryman.
The man walked into the Check City business in American Fork just before 12:30 p.m. Saturday and told employees he had their pizzas.
The employees work behind a counter with bulletproof glass. They told him they didn't order the pizzas and wouldn't accept them.
On surveillance video, the man can be seen leaving the pizzas and walking away when an employee offers him a $5 tip. He comes back and takes it though the glass, with help from a young girl in the store.
Then the man pulled out a handgun, threatened the mother of the two young children and told the clerks he would shoot. After a few seconds, he ran out of the store empty-handed, except with his $5 tip.
"Anytime someone pulls a gun out and points it little children, it concerns you," said American Fork police Lt. Darren Falslev. "The indications are that this is going to escalate, and eventually he is going to up the ante, and potentially somebody could get hurt."
Orem police confirmed that about 20 minutes before the Check City holdup, a Papa John's employee arrived at an Orem motel to deliver pizzas. The deliveryman was robbed at gunpoint, and his hat, shirt, cell phone, car and pizzas were stolen -- all apparently as a disguise to rob the check cashing business.
Police are looking for a blue 1996 Subaru Legacy. The suspect is believed to be in his early to mid-20s, with long brown hair.
Call the American Fork Police Department at 801-763-3020 if you have any information on the robbery or know who the suspect is.
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Story compiled with contributions from Sam Penrod and Paul Nelson.
