When a large, knife-wielding man with a red bandana over his face demanded that the 23-year-old clerk at University Gifts near the University of Denver campus open the cash register, she asked “Why?”
The alleged robber — a 310-pound probationer named Corey Shepard — punched her in the face before taking $436 from the drawer, Denver police Detective Eric Denke wrote in a search-warrant affidavit. The robbery occurred in late February.
Clerk Christina Nandin said in a later interview that she wasn’t intimidated by the 6-foot-2 suspect despite his size.
“I grew up in that kind of neighborhood. It didn’t look like my life was going anywhere, and now I work two jobs,” Nandin said. “This big monster comes in here and tells me to empty my cash register? No.”
In the affidavit, Denke wrote that the bandana, the knife, the hulking frame and the punch all link Shepard, 29, to half a dozen robberies at a string of small businesses stretching between the campus and Quincy Reservoir in late February and early March.
Shepard, who was taken into custody March 24, faces a Class 3 felony count of aggravated burglary and a misdemeanor assault charge tied to the gift-store robbery. He is to appear in court for a preliminary hearing today.
Three of the other robberies fitting Shepard’s alleged pattern happened in Denver, and police expect to turn those cases over to the Denver district attorney’s office this week, said Police Department spokesman Sonny Jackson.
The other two robberies occurred in Aurora and Greenwood Village, according to the affidavit.
Shepard faced felony theft charges in Denver last year but pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft in November and was sentenced to two years of probation, court records show.
