FORT WORTH -- Perhaps he needed money for the cab fare.
A Mansfield man is in jail after police say he called a cab to a Fort Worth gas station early Thursday, told the driver to wait outside, then returned inside the store and robbed the clerk.Robbery Sgt. Joe Loughman said the suspect had been inside the Shell gas station at 4920 Bryant Irvin Road prior to the robbery for about 20 to 30 minutes, during which time he called for the cab and bought and played some scratch-off lottery tickets.When the cab arrived shortly after 4 a.m., the man went outside and asked the driver to wait.He then returned inside and asked the clerk for a piece of paper and pen, Loughman said."He got the paper, wrote his (demand) note, and she gave him the money after he feigned like he had a gun," Loughman said. "We don't know if he did or didn't. We didn't find one."The man then left in the cab, but not before the clerk wrote down the car's license plate number.Loughman said patrol Lt. J.G. White heard the broadcast about the robbery and spotted the cab. He followed it to the parking lot of another gas station on Alta Mere Drive.There, White and a sergeant who happened to be at the gas station fueling his vehicle arrested the cab's passenger, identified in a police report as 25-year-old Chase Rountree of Mansfield.Court records show Rountree was sentenced in August to four years deferred adjudication probation in an evading arrest case out of Arlington. He now faces a charge of aggravated robbery.The cab driver told police he had no idea what his customer had just allegedly done."He was mad that he didn't get paid," Loughman said.Deanna Boyd, (817) 390-7655Twitter: @deannaboydHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
