Springdale police arrested a man they said acted as a getaway driver for a group of men who robbed people after posting Craiglist personal ads.
Melvin Cooper, 29, was booked into the Washington County Detention Center and faces a charge of aggravated robbery. Bond was set at $100,000 because police said Cooper, of Springdale, is on parole from Missouri, according to a preliminary police report.
Springdale police had earlier said that three armed robberies had happened in November, two at the same apartment complex.
The report said Cooper was paid $5 from the robbery proceeds to drive three men to an apartment on Crutcher Street where the men waited in a closet to rob a Hispanic man on Nov. 14. The man had met an escort, identified as S.W. in the report, at a Springdale Walmart before following her to the apartment to have sex, the report said, when three robbed him of money and a cell phone while brandishing a silver handgun.
The report said S.W. was paid $400 and the men said the victim had $1,500 in cash. S.W. told police the victim was chosen on the belief that he was in the country illegally and would be carrying a large amount of cash and be reluctant to report the crime to police, the report said.
Springdale police had arrested two men, 24-year-old Timothy Counts and 22-year-old Richard Rodriguez, they said robbed three people in similar crimes on Wednesday. The report said Cooper admitted to police that he drove three men to the Crutcher apartment and understood they were intending to rob someone.
