MANVEL — A man suspected of robbing five convenience stores and injuring two store clerks in the process is in custody on robbery charges, police said.
Manvel police filed aggravated robbery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle charges on Thursday against David Anthony Hutchinson, 36, of Houston, Manvel Sgt. Duke Adkisson said.
A Manvel gas station clerk picked Hutchinson out of a photo lineup Thursday as the person who held a knife to his throat and demanded money, Adkisson said.
“I reviewed our video,” Adkisson said of the surveillance footage from the store. “As soon as I saw the video, it’s him.”
Hutchinson admitted to two robberies in an interview with Fort Bend County Sheriff’s investigators.
Fort Bend County Sheriff’s officials arrested Hutchinson on Wednesday after he was picked up in Alvin the night before, police said. An aggravated robbery conviction can carry up to life in prison.
“We are going to interview him, and we anticipate additional charges,” said Terriann Carlson, Fort Bend County Sheriff’s spokeswoman.
Carlson said she could not say what those charges might be.
Two clerks were hurt in the robberies, including the Manvel clerk, who was treated at the scene for a cut to his hand, police have said. A clerk who was stabbed at a Missouri City gas station has recovered, Carlson said.
“He’s in good condition and he has been released,” she said.
An Alvin woman met Hutchinson on Tuesday in Arcola and asked him over to her home, Adkisson said. The woman went back to Arcola later Tuesday, and a Fort Bend County Sheriff’s detective pulled up to her while she was walking down the street, he said.
“They were canvassing the area” for Hutchinson, Adkisson said. “They showed her a flier and she said, ‘That man’s in my home.’”
Police said Hutchinson stole a beige Suzuki XL7 from a Manvel gas station in the 17500 block of Morris Avenue on Saturday, then used it to rob four Fort Bend County stores over the weekend. Police said they believe the same man robbed the Manvel gas station on Morris at about 12:30 a.m. Monday.
A man wearing a burnt orange shirt and blue jeans walked into the station and demanded cash after holding a knife to a clerk’s throat, Manvel police said. He then left the store in a beige Suzuki XL7 with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.
An off-duty Iowa Colony firefighter followed the vehicle west on Highway 6 before the robber wrecked the car in a canal off CR 48, police have said. Police did not find the man inside the submerged car and they did not located him after searching the area with a helicopter and a K-9 unit.
Hutchinson was at the Fort Bend County jail on $100,000 bond late Thursday.
By John Tompkins
The Facts
Published June 26, 2009
