Parking spot confrontation helped Wichita police catch Family Dollar robber

The parolee accused of robbing a pair of Family Dollar stores in Wichita earlier this month was captured with the help of someone who confronted him about his parking choice prior to the robbery.

The suspected robber was arrested after the getaway car was identified in security camera video by someone who told police that they confronted a man who had backed into a parking space at an office a block from the store.

Prosecutors charged Toney D. Williams, 25, in federal court on Wednesday with two counts of obstructing commerce by robbery and two counts of using a firearm in a crime of violence. He was arrested and booked into jail by Wichita police on Oct. 4 in connection to a pair of Family Dollar robberies in the previous three days.

Police said that Williams, of Topeka, had recently been paroled to Sedgwick County for a crime committed elsewhere. Kansas Department of Corrections records show he has a prior conviction in Shawnee County of criminal possession of a weapon by a felon.

A Wichita police detective who is a Federal Bureau of Investigation task force officer detailed the investigation in an affidavit filed in federal court.

Officers were dispatched at around 7:12 p.m. Oct. 1 to a robbery at the Family Dollar store at 2301 S. Seneca. A man had pointed a gun at an employee and demanded money from the register. Then at around 10:51 a.m. Oct. 3, a man armed with a gun demanded money from a store register at 1031 S. Meridian.

No injuries were reported in either robbery.

A detective investigating the second robbery spoke to someone who had an office at a building a block away from the store. That person told the cops “about confronting a black male who backed into a parking space in the parking lot ... and walked away,” according to court documents.

The detective looked at security camera video and saw a gold Ford Crown Victoria park at the lot and later leave. The man who drove the car is shown in the video walking from the parking lot to the dollar store and then returning during the same time as the robbery.

Police distributed photos of the man and the car, which had rear bumper damage and a temporary tag, to area law enforcement officers.

The next day, two WPD officers saw a car matching the description driving on Central near Chautauqua. They saw that the car had a cracked windshield and pulled it over. They spoke to Williams, who was the driver, and discovered that he had a suspended license.

A detective then interrogated Williams, who admitted to committing the robberies, according to court documents. He said he drove the Crown Victoria to the robberies, used a .22 caliber pistol that wasn’t loaded and later threw the gun into a river. He said he gave away some of the approximately $275 in cash and used some money to buy food and drinks. A search of the car turned up the sweatshirts seen in store security camera images being worn by the robber.

This story was originally published October 23, 2019 at 8:59 PM.