By Joe Johnson
A suspect in an armed robbery of an Athens convenience store last month was arrested early Friday after he returned to the scene of the crime, according to Athens-Clarke County police.
The Chevron store and gas station at 1112 Hull Road was robbed early the morning of Aug. 24 by a white male armed with a handgun who jumped the counter, bound the hands of three employees with zip ties and put them in a store cooler before fleeing with an undisclosed amount of cash.
He drove off in an employee’s SUV, which police found abandoned nearby.
At 3:42 a.m. Friday, a clerk at Chevron called police to report that the armed robbery suspect had possibly returned and that he drove away with another white male in a pickup truck, according to a police incident report.
Police said they found the truck near Northside Bottle Shop on U.S. Highway 29 North, where it was occupied by one white male, and another white male appeared to be looking for something in a culvert.
That male, identified as Daniel Gordon Brooks, 25, of Charles Bruce Road in Danielsville, was detained when it as learned he was wanted for a felony probation violation in Madison County.
Police said they brought to the scene the clerk from Chevron, who positively identified Brooks as the armed robber.
The driver of the pickup consented to a search of the vehicle, in which police said they found bags belonging to Brooks that were seized “due to possible connections” to other crimes, and also a gun.
The pickup’s driver was released at the scene and Brooks was booked into the Clarke County Jail on the Madison County warrant.
Athens-Clarke detectives subsequently obtained warrants charging him with three counts each of armed robbery and false imprisonment.
He was being held at the county jail without bail.