Author: Gina Mace, Special to the Beacon Journal
Dateline: NORTON
The black ski mask wasn't enough.
Norton police say a 21-year-old man tried to use the mask to hide his identity from a former boss during a robbery attempt Thursday outside of a convenience store.
Authorities say the manager, Dale Anderson, confronted the masked man and asked, ''What are you doing, Glenn?''
Police say the surprised robber replied: ''It's not Glenn, Dale.''
Anderson, who manages Circle K at 3899 Eastern Road, told investigators that former employee Glenn N. Messer of Cuyahoga Falls was the man behind the mask.
Messer was arrested later in the day at his mother's home in the Falls by police and members of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force.
Messer has been charged with a felony count of robbery and was arraigned Thursday in Barberton Municipal Court. His bond was set at $20,000.
Authorities say Messer worked at the Circle K until February.
Norton Police Chief Thad Hete said Anderson had exited the store around 8 a.m. to head out to make a bank deposit when she was confronted.
After the manager identified Messer by name, Hete said, Messer punched Anderson and tried to take the deposit bag and her purse. He fled with the purse.
Hete said a witness from a neighboring business watched Messer put on the ski mask in the parking lot.
Authorities say another witness, an employee at PerkinElmer Inc., recognized Messer's 1978 Buick Regal as one that had parked in the business's lot just two days earlier.
Thinking the car looked suspicious, Hete said, the witness took a picture of the vehicle and its license plate. It was later identified as Messer's.
Authorities say Messer has no prior criminal record.
Hete said Messer confessed to the robbery, saying he needed the money for drugs.
Copyright (c) 2009 Akron Beacon Journal
