King County Sheriff’s detectives, with assistance from other police agencies, arrested three suspects in the takeover robberies of several convenience stores in the area over the last two weeks.

Robberies occurred in Federal Way (2), Maple Valley (2), Covington, Tukwila and Bothell, beginning with the Federal Way robberies on July 25th.

The three suspects were arrested without incident on Tuesday, Aug. 9, and a search warrant was served on the Auburn apartment of one of the suspects.

Evidence was recovered during the search.

The suspects, all Auburn residents, are 16, 23, and 24 years old respectively. All are expected to be charged with several counts of robbery in the first degree in the next few days.

Tips from the public due to extensive TV coverage helped detectives zero in on the suspects, although additional investigation was needed. In addition, the up to $1000 reward offered by CrimeStoppers was believed to be a significant motivation for the tipsters.

“This investigation was an excellent example of a multijurisdictional investigation”, said Sheriff Sue Rahr. “I especially want to thank the Auburn Police Department for their significant help, even though the suspects didn’t commit a robbery in their city. Everybody worked together to put some very dangerous people in jail”.