Police nab armed robber

Cheney police feel confident they have arrested the individual who robbed the Dollar Tree store at gunpoint in May 2015 — but not before the same individual repeated his actions on Saturday, July 9.

Police arrested and have charged Jeffrey J. Pool, 22, with two counts of first-degree armed robbery, four counts of second-degree assault and four counts of unlawful imprisonment. Cheney Police Chief John Hensley said the case is so solid that the Spokane County prosecuting attorney came to Cheney to review the evidence.

“They usually don’t come out to Cheney,” Hensley said.

According to Spokane Superior Court documents, police responded at approximately 9:15 p.m. on a report of a robbery at the Dollar Tree, 2424 First St. The assistant store manager told officers that just before closing at 9 p.m. and while checking the store to make sure no customers were inside, he attempted to check the staff/employee restroom, but was only partially able to open the door.

Thinking cleaning equipment blocked the door, he pushed harder, opening the door and was confronted by a man wearing a black motorcycle helmet. Realizing the store was again going to be robbed, he briefly struggled with the man, but stopped after the man displayed a handgun.

The man led the manager to a back warehouse and told him to put zip ties around his wrists. At that time the other clerk in the store paged the manager to come to the front to help check out some last customers and close up the store’s cash tills.

The clerk then came to the back where she confronted the man and the manager. The man then directed the manager to go to the front of the store and check out the customers, all the while observing the manager’s actions near the front of the store while holding the gun to the clerk.

After the customers left and the store was locked, the man directed the staff to empty the tills and then ordered them into the store’s office where he was very specific about what he wanted placed in a red and black draw-string bag he was carrying.

“He demonstrated intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the store,” Cheney Police Capt. Rick Beghtol wrote in the report. “He said some of the same things that were said during the robbery in May 2015 and his voice (according to the assistant manager) was the same as the suspect in 2015.”

After ordering the employees again to the back of the store, the man fled; making off with about $1,600 in cash, Beghtol said in a July 11 interview. While Cheney officers were investigating the scene, the assistant manager called another assistant manager, who came to the store and told police that around 8:35 p.m. while he was at the store, he saw Pool, who he knew from attending Eastern Washington University and from workouts at a gym.

At the time, Pool was wearing dark blue or black pants, a black jacket and was holding a black motorcycle helmet. The second assistant manager said he looked in the parking and thought it strange he didn’t see Pool’s motorcycle outside.

Cheney investigators discovered Pool had worked at the Dollar Tree about two years ago, and was currently employed on the graveyard shift at the Airway Heights Corrections Center. Police said employees there wear dark blue uniform pants, black web gear utility belts similar to those worn by the suspect, and commonly use zip ties.

Police executed search warrants of Pool’s Cheney residence and his vehicle, a black 2007 Mercedes C230. He was arrested July 12 at the corrections center.

“We felt it was safer to do it there instead of at his house because there was a weapon used in the robbery,” Hensley said.

Hensley praised the work of the officers, Beghtol and investigator Justin Hobbs. Police obtained DNA from Pool, which they hope will match DNA taken from a ski mask used in the 2015 robbery and found on State Route 904.

“We have evidence from the previous robbery that at the end of the day will link him to the whole thing,” Hensley said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].