Police say the man who robbed the convenience stores wearing a mask went back to one of the Seven-11s to apologize, and try to give back some of the money that he stole.
But his mistake was, he forgot to put the mask back on.
Police say he's been on a roll. From September 2009 to December 2010 he has been robbing Seven-11 stores in the Northeast section of the Philadelphia and Bensalem, armed with a gun and wearing a mask.
"And you see here, he's very quick doing the robbery. Of the 14 robberies, they were all committed in the same way. He's methodical, very methodical, knows exactly what to do," said Lt. Ray Evers.
In all, he has committed ten gunpoint robberies at Seven-11s throughout Northeast Philadelphia and four robberies at Seven-11s in the 3500 block of Street Road in Bensalem.
But one day last July, he did something that was totally unexpected.
Call it an act of contrition, remorse or maybe just a desire to turn his life around, however short lived that may have been.
But he went back to the Seven-11 store in the 7900 block of Frankford Avenue that he had robbed several times before.
"Goes to the teller and tries to tell him 'I'm sorry for robbing you in the past, I actually wanted to give you money in exchange for robbing you.' At that time, the merchant did the right thing, hit the panic alarm, the male fled," explained Lt. Evers.
For police, good fortune would have it that during the man's moment of soul-searching, he may have made one critical mistake; he forgot to put his mask back on.
And now police have a good picture of the guy believed to be the robber; for now they're calling him a person of interest until they're absolutely sure it's him. That's why they're putting it all over the news.
"Without a doubt, we need the public's help. This has been going on for a year and a half, not only in Northeast Philadelphia, but also in Bensalem," said Lt. Evers.
Police say the man should be considered armed and very dangerous. Police are asking that you call Philadelphia or Bensalem Police with any information that might help them identify the robber.
