A lot of hard work, cooperation between law enforcement agencies and a great tip led to the identification and arrest of the suspect in the Tuesday night armed robbery of the Country Porch convenience store east of Linton. It was quick. In slightly over 24 hours after the robbery, numerous officers were knocking on the suspect’s door.    

Robert Alan Dale, 57, Hymera, was arrested by Det. Sgt. Shawn Cullison of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department, the lead investigator in this case. (Note: Court records list Dale with an address in Lyons. The investigation information indicates Dale had recently moved to Hymera.)

Numerous officers were at Dale’s door in Hymera around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, February 5. After speaking with Dale and a woman who also resided at the same residence, Dale was transported by GCSD Deputy Michael Coy to the sheriff’s department.

Dale was interviewed by Det. Cullison around 10:30 p.m. The only information known about that interview is that Dale denied robbing the station.

Dale was placed under arrest and booked into the jail around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, February 6. His bond was initially set at $59,000 but that amount has since been adjusted to $58,000.

After the findings of the investigation and a probable cause affidavit were submitted to the prosecutor’s office where the charging decisions are made, Greene County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtsclaw filed a criminal case in Greene Circuit Court this morning, Friday, February 7.

Dale is being charged with:

• Armed robbery, a Level 3 felony,

• Criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon, a Level 3 felony,

• Criminal recklessness – shot a firearm into a building, a Level 5 felony,

• Intimidation with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony,

• Theft where value of property is between $750 and $50,000, a Level 6 felony, and

• Pointing a firearm at another person, a Level 6 felony.

Bond was then set at $58,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed.

Video obtained from the store’s video surveillance system provided law enforcement with clues that helped solve the case.

Det. Sgt. Cullison said video showed Dale entering the parking lot of the Country Porch convenience store from the west in a light-colored Chevrolet Equinox and parking in front of the store at 6:54 p.m. He sat in the vehicle until 7:02 p.m. when he entered the store carrying a Styrofoam Marathon cup with a lid and straw, wearing a gray hooded jacket with the hood pulled over his head, wearing sunglasses with yellow colored lenses with an orange tint, wearing blue jeans, a large watch with a black band on his left wrist and a gray bracelet on his right. He had a white mustache and thinning white hair, he was heavier set and appeared to be about six feet tall and about 50-60 years old.

Dale allegedly walked around the store until all customers left then at 7:05 p.m., he walked behind the counter where a female cashier was standing. With a small black pistol in his right hand, he pointed the firearm at the cashier. In an interview with Sgt. Logan Hobbs of the Linton Police Department, the cashier said Dale told her to give him all the money and she started emptying the safe, a small safe on the floor behind the counter, dropping money into the store’s white plastic bags with red lettering that said “Thank You.” While she was doing that, Dale allegedly was picking up a couple of “logs” of chewing tobacco and putting them into another bag. The manager later said a “log” of chewing tobacco is a roll of five containers. The cashier then handed the bags with money to Dale.

According to the affidavit, the cashier told Sgt. Hobbs that Dale then ordered her into the cooler and told her to take off her clothes in order to give him time to get away before she called for help. The video shows her walking toward the walk-in cooler in the back of the store at 7:07 p.m. with Dale still pointing the gun at her while they both entered the cooler. The cashier said Dale fired the gun while they were inside the cooler. The video shows just Dale exiting the cooler at 7:09 p.m. with the woman’s clothing which he placed on a shelf outside the cooler.

Det. Cullison noted in the affidavit that Dale was carrying the styrofoam cup when he entered the store but he was only carrying the bags when he left, got back into the Equinox and waited about 26 seconds before pulling out at 7:10 p.m., heading back toward Linton.

Video showed the cashier exited the cooler in her underwear about the same time, 7:10 p.m. She stopped at the shelf, put her clothes back on and went to the other side of the building into Papa John’s where a Papa John’s employee called 911 at 7:12 p.m. to report the Country Porch had been robbed at gunpoint.

GCSD Deputies Camron Frye and Michael Coy were dispatched along with LPD Sgt. Hobbs and Officer John Agan. By 7:16 p.m., Det. Cullison had been notified of the situation and was on the way. The store’s district manager provided quick access to the store’s video surveillance system, the cashier was transported to the police department for an interview and officers processed the crime scene. The store’s district manager said there would have been $800 in the safe in small bills and rolled coins.

During the investigation, officers found a Bang energy drink can that had been shot in the cooler, with a hole in one side and the other side blown out. Det. Cullison located a small copper jacket and small metal fragments on the floor. Sgt. Hobbs later found a Geco brand 380 shell casing. Officers also found the styrofoam cup with lid and straw that the suspect had left behind on the front counter.

Both GCSD and LPD issued appeals to the public for help identifying the suspect. They released two photos of the suspect in the store and two of the Equinox entering and leaving the parking area. Officers then got a big break when the Asset Protection Manager of the Walmart store reported he had video footage of a man inside the Walmart store that matched the suspect’s description.

The subject pointed out by the Asset Protection Manager stopped into Walmart and made a purchase of household items and food around 5 p.m. He took his purchase out to his vehicle. He was driving an Equinox, was wearing the same clothing, looked the same and was wearing the watch and a bracelet. Then he returned to the store again and this time left the Walmart parking area at 6:53, a minute before pulling into the convenience store.

What followed was an extensive search of the Walmart surveillance footage by the Asset Protection Manager, Sgt. Hobbs and Det. Cullison. They found what appeared to be the same subject visiting Walmart on at least three other occasions, driving either the Equinox or a red Ford Escape. From one of his transactions, store records were able to provide officers with a name, Robert Alan Dale.

A BMV check revealed Dale had a red Ford Escape and Dale and the woman who resides with him were registered with a Chevrolet Equinox. Then they determined GCSD Deputy James Carpenter had taken a theft report from Dale in late January and Deputy Carpenter remembered that at the time, Dale was moving to a residence in Hymera.

By 8 p.m., numerous officers were knocking on Dale’s door. When they arrived, the Equinox and the red Escape were sitting in the drive. Dale matched the description and he was wearing a black watch on his left hand, a bracelet on his right, and while they were talking to him, he was drinking from a styrofoam Marathon cup. Det. Cullison said on the table in front of Dale was a black Ruger LCP 380 pistol with six rounds of Geco brand 380 ammunition in the magazine. Dale was transported to the sheriff’s department.

Sgt. Hobbs requested and at 11:11 p.m. was granted a search warrant for the residence and the vehicles. Officers reported they found a gray hooded jacket inside the residence. It matched the one the suspect wore. They located a box of the ammunition, with seven rounds missing from the box. They located several containers of Skoal chewing tobacco, the same brand that was missing from the store. Inside the Escape, they found several white plastic bags with red lettering that said “Thank You.” Inside one of the bags they found stacks of five-dollar bills paper clipped together and several stacks of one-dollar bills. Inside another bag they found several rolls of coins. Inside the Equinox, they found a pair of sunglasses with orangish yellow lens.

Dale is scheduled to appear in Greene Circuit Court next Monday morning, February 10, for his initial hearing.

Following Dale’s arrest, Det. Cullison said he wanted to thank everyone involved including officers from the sheriff’s department, the Linton Police Department, the Jasonville Police Department and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department as well as members of the public who contributed tips.