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The first incident, June 5, 2017, involved two males entering the store with masks and gloves. One of them had a long butcher knife, according to the report.
They allegedly threatened employees and demanded money. They fled with cash and packs of cigarettes.
Brian Spies (MCSO)
The first seven incidents happened in the same fashion.
During a robbery Sept. 9, 2017, one of the suspects told the employees “You guys are easy.”
On May 24, officers searched the neighborhood near the targeted store for a vehicle used by one of the suspects on May 22. They located the vehicle with some damage half a mile from the store. Authorities found Mr. Spies lived at the residence where the vehicle was at.
Mr. Spies would allegedly play a role in two more robberies, June 9 and June 14.
On June 9, a suspect robbed the store, and later met up with a person matching Mr. Spies description. Both entered a vehicle being driven by a female.
On June 14, a male suspect entered a phone store near Central and Southern avenues, threatening three employees and four customers with a gun. One of customers was 5 years old, the report states.
Brian Spies prison photo (Arizona DOC)
The suspect took an unknown amount of cash and fled. A witness saw the suspect and the driver of a getaway vehicle enter Mr. Spies’ reported residence.
Officers responded and ordered Mr. Spies, along with a male and a female, to exit the residence. All three were arrested.
However, Mr. Spies would tell police the other male did not know about the robberies. He admitted to robbing the phone store and only the store incidents in which there was only one suspect.
Mr. Spies was in prison for 16 years for armed robbery charges, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections. He was released April 28, 2017.
Police said Mr. Spies was involved in 12 armed robberies from 2001 to 2002 in which he had been armed with a large hunting knife.
Mr. Spies is being charged with eight counts of armed robbery with a deadly weapon, one count of armed robbery, and four counts aggravated assault.