MAPLEWOOD, Mo. — A man was charged in connection to a dog food robbery at a Maplewood grocery store earlier this month.
According to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, 42-year-old Gerold Hopkins was charged with first-degree robbery after an incident on June 10 at the Schnucks located at 7355 Manchester Road.
The manager of the grocery store told police he saw a man stealing a bag of dog food and asked him to return the item and leave the store. That's when the man told the manager he had a gun and pointed what the manager believed to be a firearm at him before running from the store with the dog food, Maplewood police said. He fled the scene on a bicycle.
Officers later searched the area and found a suspect matching the man's description. In his backpack, they found a bag of dog food and a staple gun wrapped in black electrical tape to appear as a firearm. The store manager later identified the man as the person who had robbed him and fled the store.
“If you need food for your dog, you have to have a better plan than taping up a staple gun to look like a gun and trying to pull off a fake armed robbery,” St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said in a statement. “We won’t tolerate people waving a fake weapon in a place of business in an attempt to rob them. And I can commend this alert store manager for they way he handled this situation - by the grace of God this incident didn't end tragically.”
Hopkins' bond was set at $100,000, cash only. He faces a 10- to 30-year prison sentence or life in prison for the Class A felony if found guilty.
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