Police follow up leads to armed robbery arrest

Follow-up work by a Spokane police patrol officer led to the arrest early today of a man suspected in a weekend robbery of a convenience store in Hillyard. Officer Adam Valdez was patrolling in the area of the 3000 block of East Heroy Avenue when he spotted a man digging through trash. It is the same location that a police dog over the weekend had tracked the trail of an armed robber in a holdup of M & K Market at Market Street and Wellesley Avenue late Saturday night. In that incident, a man with a knife and wearing a mask and gloves held up a clerk at the store. The arrest today came after Officer Valdez found enough evidence to link Garry L. George, 42, a transient, to the robbery. Valdez recovered a black nylon bag underneath a tree behind an abandoned garage as well as a baggie of suspected methamphetamine in the garage. The nylon bag contained items believed to have been used in the robbery. George was booked on charges of first-degree robbery and possession of a controlled substance. “This is an excellent example of how follow-up police work resulted in the arrest of an armed robbery suspect, taking him off of the streets of Spokane,” said Sgt. Kevin King in a news release today.