A sharp-eyed convenience store clerk and cooperation between law enforcement agencies has led to the arrest of a man wanted in connection with a string of robbery attempts Wednesday night.
Effingham County sheriff’s deputies arrested Clifford Thompson, 27, around 6 a.m. Thursday morning in the parking lot of Mighty Mike’s convenience store on Highway 80 after a clerk said a man matching the description of a suspect in other robbery attempts the last several hours had just left the store.
Thompson is said to have held up the Mighty Mike’s on Old River Road around 9 p.m. Wednesday. Investigators say Thompson jumped over the counter and took an undisclosed amount of cash from the register.
“We put a ‘be on the lookout’ on the suspect and the suspect’s description,” Effingham County Sheriff’s Detective David Ehsanipoor said.
A short time later, Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police got a report of an armed robbery at I-95 and Highway 204. The suspect, who used a knife in that incident, matched the description sent out by Effingham deputies.
“We compiled our information and got the suspect identified,” Ehsanipoor said. “It worked really well. We put out our ‘be on the lookout’ right after it happened and sent it to Savannah-Chatham. After the robbery at 95 and 204, they called me and said he matches the description. We got together with them and worked side-by-side.”
Ehsanipoor said Thompson went into the other Mighty Mike’s early Thursday morning with the intention of robbing it, but after seeing the number of people there, he left. A clerk called the sheriff’s department and deputies arrested Thompson in the store’s parking lot. Deputies also discovered a crack pipe in Thompson’s possession upon his arrest.
“We worked together and with the help of the community, we were able to apprehend the suspect,” Ehsanipoor said.
Thompson also may have tried to rob a store at Highway 17 and Quacco Road in Chatham County but was unsuccessful.
Thompson is being held in the Effingham County Jail and faces numerous charges.
