Rochester, N.Y. - Ten days before Christmas when there was a lull in the holiday rush, cashier Katie Beari noticed one of her customers was shaking, then she noticed the knife.
"She came up to me at the register with a butcher knife of sorts and then demanded money from the register," the 22-year-old recalls.
In the register of JM Park Co. on Park Avenue where Katie works was a mere $150, but she willingly handed it all over to the woman with the knife.
"I was a little scared, it was out of the ordinary from anything that would happen here... she had a story about how she was going to be hurt if she didn't get the money," Katie says.
Over the Christmas holiday weekend police investigators from Rochester, Brighton, Greece, and Irondequoit were hard at work chasing down three suspects wanted for a string of armed robberies during the month of December. At first the only apparent trend was that an unusual number of local tanning salon businesses were apparently targeted.
"Apparently she had intended to rob this place next door but picked us because of the opportunity," Katie adds.
On Friday, investigators came together to announce the arrests of Jacob Buchanan, 22, his brother Jeffrey Buchanan, 20, and Jacob's girlfriend Sarah Cushman, 26. All three face charges for their alleged involvement in eight armed robberies between December 7th and December 23rd. Five of the businesses hit were tanning salons and one of them was targeted twice.
"They did exactly what we would want them to do, comply," Brighton Police Sgt. Mike DeSain said about the clerks who were held up in the alleged robberies.
Investigators said all three suspects have been arraigned and not guilty pleas have been entered.
