By Barry Porterfield
A con game at an area store worked to perfection as Garvin County authorities are now on the trail of two suspects who got away with a solid chunk of stolen money.
Their search is being helped by the fact both subjects were seen clearly on a surveillance camera the entire time they were working their game Wednesday night at the T.R.’s Quick Stop store, located on state Highway 29 just west of Interstate 35.
The subjects, who walked into this particular store about four miles south of Pauls Valley at about 8:25 p.m., are also believed to have possibly tried the same thing at other establishments throughout the region that same night.
One thing known for sure is it only took a few minutes for the suspects to get the clerk confused enough in a fast-paced con game for them to get away with a few hundred dollars in stolen money.
Deputy Jeff Poteet said it all got started when one of the subjects distracted the clerk while his partner bought a drink paying for it with a large bill.
“When she gave him change he had mixed in other money as a way of confusing her,” Poteet said.
“They spent approximately seven minutes with this clerk changing money.”
The tactic did work as the clerk was clearly confused with the money games flying around on the counter — at least until another customer came into the store.
“When the customer came in they immediately grabbed the money on the counter and left,” the county deputy said.
It was later determined more than $300 in various bills had been stolen by the two suspects.
The good news for law enforcement is the entire transaction was caught on tape, or at least the store’s camera pointed at the area at and around the counter.
“Unfortunately for the suspects they were on camera the whole time,” Poteet said.
“We know what these two guys look like. We also have audio so we know what they sound like.”
Poteet said evidence also tracks the two suspects from a casino in Thackerville up to Pauls Valley, where it’s believed they might have attempted the same con game at a store here.
“We think these guys were going up and down the interstate trying to do this same thing at other places,” he said.
From here deputies will continue working to put together reports and collect evidence.
“Hopefully we can get fingerprints from the evidence and figure out who these two guys are,” Poteet said.
