Flower Shop Robbery Suspect Nabbed After Chase

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga.,None — A man suspected in a string of Fayette County robberies, including a theft at a Fayetteville flower shop, was arrested Tuesday.

Fayetteville resident Anthony Craig Dobson, 47, was arrested after a police chase around 12:30 p.m. Clayton County police said they followed Dobson after he tried to rob a Little Caesar's pizza shop. News Chopper 2 flew over the busy Publix supermarket, where the chase ended.

Dobson evaded arrested for five days after Jan's Florist was robbed last week. Workers said it was business as usual Thursday morning until a man wearing a hat and shades walked in.

"He had dark sunglasses on the whole, entire time he was inside the building, and he never took the sunglasses off," shop owner Gail Brown told Channel 2's Eric Philips.

She said the man was asking for directions to Newnan, saying someone else had given him bad directions. Brown said he handed her a piece of paper with the alleged directions he was given, but instead, she found instructions.

"So, I opened it up and the first line said, ‘I got a gun. Don't do anything stupid. Give me the money in a bag,'" Brown said.

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After she gave him the money, he ran out, she said.

"It's quite scary because you don't know what's going to happen," Brown said.

Hours later, a thief struck a Rite Aid on Highway 54 in Fayetteville, less than 10 minutes from the florist, police said. They said a man there pretended to make a purchase.

"When they opened the cash register, he grabbed cash and ran out of the store," said Fayetteville police spokesman Steve Crawshaw.

WSB-TV Jan's Florist Jan's Florist, Fayetteville But surveillance cameras were rolling and captured a picture of the robber.

"This is very serious for us," Crawshaw said. "This is not a high-crime area, and so it's serious to have three robberies in this short a time frame."

Dobson was charged with two counts of armed robbery, one count of robbery by snatching and theft by taking.

WSBTV