This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
For a Taylorsville 7-Eleven clerk, the red bandana a would-be robber wore early Tuesday morning was a dead giveaway; she recognized the wearer as the same hatchet-wielding man who robbed her last month.
This time, the clerk refused for fork over the cash. The surprised suspect left the store, and when he tried to get money from someone in the parking lot he once again was rebuffed.
Unified Police Lt. Bill Robertson credits a sharp-eyed witness for catching the license plate on a car the suspect next jumped into, and officers found it a short time later at a house a few blocks away.
UPD said that the man, a 36-year-old with a 2015 misdemeanor conviction for assaulting a police officer, confessed to both the 1:30 a.m. attempted robbery and the previous, April 11 hold up of the 7-Eleven at 3200 West and 5400 South.
He was booked into the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of armed robbery. Bail was not immediately set.
The man also is a suspect in an April 23 holdup of a Taco Bell restaurant across the street, UPD confirmed.
UPD said a woman initially detained along with the suspect was released after questioning.
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