FRAZIER PARK (Thursday, June 10, 2010, 4:31 p.m.)— Anthony Jerome Laws, Sr. of Bakersfield has been arrested for armed robbery of a Mobile Station at Grapevine.

Kern County Sheriff’s Frazier Park substation Lead Deputy Richard Garrett said in an interview today that the robber had been videotaped during the robbery, but it was two quick-thinking clerks that made it possible to apprehend him.

On May 25 at about 11:30 p.m., the man later identified as Laws walked inside the Mobil Gas Station at the Grapevine near Interstate-5. Armed with an eight-inch kitchen knife, he demanded the clerk give him money from the cash register. The clerk tried to protect himself by fighting Laws with a plastic trash can. After a few seconds the clerk opened the register and gave an undisclosed amount of money to Laws, who then fled in a blue 4-door Dodge Intrepid.

On June 5, 2010 at about 3 p.m. deputies from the Frazier Park Substation responded to a call of a suspicious person at the Lebec AM/PM gas station. The clerk said a subject, later identified as Laws, came into the store and was acting suspiciously. The clerk said Laws left the store in a blue 4-door Dodge Intrepid prior to deputies’ arrival.

A short time later, a California Highway Patrol officer located and stopped a blue 4-door Dodge Intrepid. Deputies responded to the traffic stop and continued their investigation. During their investigation, deputies discovered Laws was in possession of a knife and other evidence indicating he was responsible for the May 25th robbery at the Mobil gas station. Laws was also identified based on video surveillance of the robbery.

Laws was arrested and booked into the Central Receiving Facility for robbery.

In the Thursday, May 10 interview, Deputy Garrett said, "It was the quick thinking of the clerks at both the stations that made it possible to arrest him." He said of the first clerk’s initial report, "He did a good job," and then the clerk at the AM/PM store "felt there was something suspicious about the man who came in and she did a good thing by calling us." Garrett said the robber had a bandana over his face during the robbery. He is a black male, 5’7", about 150 pounds.

This is part of the June 11, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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