A Denver man was arrested after, police said, he robbed a West Colfax Avenue convenience store — twice in a week.
Trevor Burke, 29, who complained that Denver police improperly auctioned his car last year, is accused of robbing the store at 3519 W. Colfax Ave. for the first time on April 12. A clerk told police that the suspect, whose face was obscured by a multicolored rag, chased him around the store with a 10-inch double-edged knife.
“The robber continued to tell the victim, ‘I can kill you’ during the robbery,” Detective Jeffrey Hart wrote in the affidavit.
Six days later, Burke allegedly returned to the convenience store to try again.
In total, the robber made off with $1,300 in cash and some lottery tickets.
After the second robbery, a motorcycle officer saw Burke near a trash bin in an alley near the store, chased him and caught him. A knife was found in the bin. The clerk identified Burke as the robber, according to arrest papers.
Burke made the news last year after he reported his blue 2000 Audi A6 had been stolen from an apartment parking garage in December 2009.
Authorities eventually recovered Burke’s car at a tire shop on Alameda Avenue three months later.
Burke told 7News in September that he had trouble claiming the car because he had just moved to the state, had been transferring the title to his fiancee and the registration had been lost when the car was stolen.
Before he could retrieve the vehicle from police, it had gone to auction and was sold for $4,000.
“I feel victimized by not only the police but the person who stole the car,” Burke told 7News at the time.
A spokesman for the Denver Police Department said the two Burkes appear to be the same person based on birthdays and addresses.
Burke previously served probation in 2009 for a petty-theft charge.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
