The Homer Police department arrested a convicted Washington Felon for the robbery of the Grog Shop in Homer that took place the day after Christmas 2013.

29-year-old Michael R. McClendon was arrested without incident a short distance from his residence on aMain Strreet in Homer at 8 pm on Friday night after a three-week investigation into the robbery-at-gunpoint at a popular liquor store in downtown Homer on Pioneer Street.

It was approximately 10:50 pm that an armed masked man entered the Grog Shop and demanded money. The man fired a round from the weapon into the floor during the robbery. After taking $1,100 from the store, he made good his escape. He was initially identified as being between 6-foot anf 6-foot-two.

Initially, the police had little to work with in the robbery case, although they had surveillance from the store, that video showed a fully masked man carrying a short rifle in gloved hands. The surveillance video had audio as well however, and it was that audio that would eventually lead the police to a suspect.

Just prior to the robbery, Homer Police received a 911 call reporting an accident on East End Road to the east of Homer. The caller reported injuries at the scene, then reported his cellphone was dying. Police, the Fire Department and EMS responded to the scene of the reported accident to find none.

Police would determine that the 911 call was used to draw resources from downtown to the East End Road area in order for the robber to gain time to commit his crime.

Comparing the voices of the 911 caller to the voice of the Grog Shop robber, they found similarities and traced the cellphone number used to make the fake 911 call to AT&T, where it was found that the phone used was a “Burner,” made by Tracfone. Homer Police contacted the company with a search warrant to attain the phone records for the phone. The lead paid out, police found evidence of a call made to Washington state on the otherwise untraceable phone. Police searched for family members of the persons called in Washington which led them to a man living on Main Street, a short distance from the store. A check of his driver’s license information, would turn up that number as a contact number.

Armed with a search warrant, police went to McClendon’s address on Main Street and uncovered further evidence, including a sawed-off .22 caliber rifle and a mask. As they were scouring the location for evidence, McClendon would be seen walking by. He was contacted, and subsequently, placed under arrest.

McClendon would later confess to the crime as well as the diversion 911 call.