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Sam Penrod Reporting Police have arrested a Murray man accused of robbing several cigarette stores at gunpoint, all along the Wasatch Front. Police say the motive was drugs.
In the last two weeks, the man is suspected of robbing at least six smoke shops, getting away with cash to fuel his drug habit. The suspect is 22-year old Matthew McKean, who was arrested late last night at his apartment in Murray.
McKean is accused of robbing smoke shops, including one in West Jordan on Wednesday. He is also accused of robbing a cigarette store in Layton just yesterday.
Investigators say his robbery spree started at the end of April. Two stores in Murray were hit, another in Midvale and West Valley as well. The man apparently targeted the smoke shops because they typically deal in cash, and police think the man found it easy to blend in.
Det. Rob Hall, Murray Police Dept.: "It was pretty strategic in the way he would do it. He would place a vehicle not from the store. He was hitting places mostly in strip malls, where he could blend in with other people, would usually park the car just a small distance away and was able to get in the car and get out."
Police say that McKean threatened clerks with an old-fashioned, long-barreled revolver and took off with the cash, so he is facing several counts of armed robbery. He's now in the Salt Lake County jail.
Police say the suspect was becoming more brazen, the more robberies he got away with, so they are glad to have him off the streets.
