An employee of a fast-food restaurant in Douglasville showed up a few minutes early for his shift Monday, but it wasn’t because of a positive work ethic, police say. He allegedly put on a mask and a black overcoat over his Wendy’s uniform and robbed the place.
Investigators told Channel 2 Action News that Andrew Spriggs Jr.'s cover was blown when he started lifting his mask as he was fleeing the restaurant toward the car he usually drives to work, parked where he usually parks, and a co-worker recognized him.
The incident happened about 7:50 a.m. at the Wendy’s on Fairburn Road.
The 48-year-old Spriggs allegedly donned a white ski-type hat with holes cut out in it for his eyes, pulling it down so it covered his face. Then, the man “came in the store, put a gun in … two employees’ faces and demanded the money out of the safe, and got away with about $6,000,” said Douglas County Sheriff’s Lt. Bruce Ferguson.
Investigators suspected an inside job, Ferguson said, because “you don’t get that much money in a fast-food restaurant unless you know it’s there in the safe.”
As for the man’s motive, Douglasville police Detective Clint Ratliff said, “He explained to me that he was two months behind in his rent, his gas had already been cut off, he was at risk of eviction and soon his lights and cable would be turned off as well.”
Ratliff said the suspect also said his wife has multiple sclerosis and has been in a nursing facility for years. Police cautioned that Spriggs’ story has yet to be checked out.
After investigators caught up with him, Spriggs helped them recover the mask and pistol and the cash taken in the heist, authorities said.
Ferguson said, “A desperate and sad situation, is what it is.”
Spriggs, of Lithia Springs, was being held without bond Tuesday in Douglas County jail, charged with one count of armed robbery and two counts of aggravated assault, jail records showed.
