Frames from a surveillance video of an armed robbery on January 6—the only one to have ever occurred—at Frazier Park Market. The public’s help is needed.
A 30 to 40 year old male robs Frazier Park Market at gunpoint at approximately 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010.
EDITORIAL
Stupidity pays poorly but costs dearly.
On Wednesday, Jan. 6 at 6:04 p.m. a man entered the Frazier Park Market wearing a black wig, false mustache and false beard. He walked through the aisles to case the inside of the store, picked up a small box of candy, placed it on the checkout counter, then threatened the cashier with a gun as she opened her cash drawer—a first in the history of this mountain town’s grocery store.
For a grand total of about $200 clutched in a rubber glove, he forever raised the stakes in the Frazier Mountain Community’s need to work together to keep this the safe and neighborly place that we love [see video of the robbery at right].
The gunman’s real payday will be when the people of the Mountain Communities join together to catch him and convict him of robbery—taking property from another by means of force or fear.
Sgt. Mark Brown confirms the California Penal Code says the robber will collect up to 25 years in prison—up to five years for the robbery plus a mandatory 10-year bonus for using a gun and another 10- years for using a gun while committing a felony.
Pulling a gun was a stupid move. With a 25-year sentence, he is likely to spend a year of his life in prison for every $8 that he stole.
To threaten a young mother working to support her child, to endanger the lives of those who visit our community’s most often-used business, is to rob everyone who lives here.
We will work together as a community to see that this genius gets what he has earned, because what he really stole at gunpoint the night of January 6 is a century-old code of trust in each other as neighbors.
It is trust that our children and grandchildren are safe to walk to the store by themselves. It is trust that we are safe in the place we call home.
We need to take back that trust.
Together we can make it clear, as Kitty Jo Nelson puts it, that “this needs to be a solitary, isolated incident.” This needs to be known as the first and only event of its kind.
Anyone who has information that can possibly help, please call (661) 245-3440. The secret witness line is 322-4040.
—Patric Hedlund, Managing Editor
This is part of the January 15, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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