West Deptford Police: Serial Robber Strikes Again

He came in like any other late-afternoon customer to the One Stop Shoppe, grabbed an item off the shelf and went to go pay for it at the counter.

That's when West Deptford Police say it became clear he was anything but a customer, as the man—in what has become his uniform of a gray hoodie and a ballcap—pulled out a hammer and demanded money from the cashier.

As soon as the register was opened, police said the alleged robber reached over and grabbed an unspecified amount of cash from the drawer, then took off running, circling around behind the building. He was last seen sprinting through the CVS plaza behind the convenience store, police said. A K-9 search was conducted after this latest robbery, with no luck.

While he was carrying a different weapon this time, West Deptford Police Chief Craig Mangano said this isn't a copycat of the man who hit the One Stop Shoppe on the other side of the township, on Red Bank Avenue, exactly a week before.

“We think it's the same guy,” he said.

The 5:15 p.m. robbery at the Parkville Station Road store is just the latest in an alleged spree of robberies by the same armed robber, who's up to at least eight robberies or attempted robberies in Camden and Gloucester counties since he first began at the Church Street 7-Eleven in Gloucester Township's Blackwood section on Feb. 9.

It is alleged the serial robber also struck a 7-Eleven in Gloucester Township's Glendora section on Feb. 10, just hours after robbing a TD Bank in Washington Township.

Mangano described the suspect as a white man in his late 20s or early 30s, between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 9 inches, with a thin build, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, a black baseball cap and sunglasses.

A joint investigation by multiple police departments and other agencies is currently underway, Mangano said.

Anyone with information about the suspect, or who might have seen something at this latest robbery, is urged to contact West Deptford Police at 856-853-4599 ext. 162.

Gloucester Township Police urge anyone with any information about the 7-Eleven robberies to call police dispatch at 856-228-4500 or to leave a message on the township's anonymous crime tip line 856-842-5560 or at police@gtpolice.com.