Police: 3 helped thwart robbery

A suspect is arrested in three incidents after a clerk, a customer and a shop owner get involved.

By MELANIE AVE

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 14, 2000

TAMPA -- Restaurant customers and workers foiled a fumbling robber who ended up in jail with a black eye after his third robbery attempt of the day, police said.

The heroes were a Wendy's clerk who refused to hand over money, a customer who punched the robber in the face and a Dunkin' Donuts store owner who helped detain the suspect until police arrived Saturday night.

"Their role was pivotal," Tampa police Lt. Jill Marks said. "If they hadn't interceded, we probably wouldn't have him in custody right now."

But little did they know that the suspect was a convicted murderer -- someone who shot an 18-year-old friend nine years ago for using a lighter to try to burn the seat of his pants.

Police said the unusual series of crimes Saturday began about 5:20 p.m. when Michael A. Couey, 32, slipped into the Farm Store on E Linebaugh Avenue, assaulted clerk Toni Oliver and took off with about $80 from a cash register.

Couey then jumped into a light-blue Nissan truck and drove to E Fowler Avenue, where he parked his truck behind the Dunkin' Donuts store about 40 minutes later, according to police and witnesses.

Store owner Mike Patel said Couey, wearing only a pair of jean shorts and some black flip-flops, entered the store but then left after he saw the long line of people waiting for doughnuts, coffee and ice cream.

He walked a few feet next door to Wendy's, filed through the line and demanded cash from clerk Edith Lewis, who told him she could open the register only with a food order or her manager's keys.

"He said, "I have a gun. Give me money,' " said Wendy's co-manager Nikki Offerle, relating the incident. "She said, "I don't believe you. Show me.'

"She thought he was joking."

Co-manager Jeanette Zirkle, who was in the back of the restaurant at the time, said Lewis offered to get the manager. But the robber, who police said didn't really have a gun, said, "No. Just ring me an order."

About that time, Zirkle said, a customer behind Couey heard what was going on and called 911 on his cell phone.

Offerle said that's when Couey ran next door to Dunkin' Donuts. But the customer apparently followed him inside.

Mike Patel said the man walked up to the store's co-owner, Craig Patel, and ordered a dozen doughnuts.

"Just as Craig turned around to open a box, he leaned over the register and grabbed whatever he could," Mike Patel said.

Clerk Poonit Megchiani, who was standing at the open register, was shocked.

"I tried to hold his hands, but he was too strong," Megchiani said. "I said, "Stop.' He said, "Shut up.' "

With a fistful of money, the robber turned around and tried to run, Megchiani said. But standing just under the juice sign was the customer who had followed him. The customer, identified as Donald Owens by Wendy's employees, punched the man in the eye.

"It must have been a sharp blow," Mike Patel said. "He dropped all the money."

With Owens hot on his trail, the man sprinted outside but slipped in between the sidewalk and parking lot.

He and Owens scuffled.

"I went and grabbed his hands because he was choking the customer," Craig Patel said. The customer "was screaming, "Help!' but nobody would help."

Craig Patel and Owens, who couldn't be reached for comment, held the man down until police arrived about five minutes later.

Couey, who has no listed address and also is known as Mark J. Rickerson, was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail. He had an outstanding warrant for a parole violation from the 1991 second-degree murder conviction in Tampa.

Couey has been charged with strong-armed robbery, burglary and two counts of robbery in Saturday's incidents.

Mike and Craig Patel, who have been running the Dunkin' Donuts only about a week, said they are thankful for the way the incidents ended.

Looking back,Mike Patel said he laughs now.

"It's pretty wild," the 26-year-old entrepreneur said, pointing to the pair of flip-flops Couey was wearing that now rest in a trash can outside Dunkin' Donuts. "If he would have had Nikes on, he might have made it."

- Melanie Ave can be reached at (813)226-3473 or melanie@sptimes.com.

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