Police say engaged couple commit robberies

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 | 10:58 a.m.

Trying to get rent money and stave off eviction, a young couple engaged to be married robbed four small businesses within 30 minutes, Metro Police said.

They found themselves new digs, rent free, at the the Clark County Detention Center.

Kristin Carter, 19, and David Webb, 22, were arrested Friday afternoon and remained jailed in lieu of $240,000 bail Monday. Both are charged with five counts of robbery and related offenses.

The case surprised Metro robbery investigators, who don't typically see relatively law-abiding people driven to such desperate measures.

"It was definitely out of the norm," Sgt. Gayland Hammack said. "I don't think they realized the seriousness of what they were doing."

Carter and Webb have some traffic violations on their records, but nothing serious, police said.

The couple lived in an apartment at the Belmont complex on Maryland Parkway near Silverado Ranch Boulevard and told police they were more than 10 days late with their rent and didn't want to be evicted, their arrest report says.

They decided "doing robberies would be a good idea," the report says.

They hit Crescent Jewelers at 9839 S. Eastern Ave. on Thursday because they heard it had been robbed before and no one had been arrested, the couple allegedly told police.

Carter also told police she wanted to commit the robbery because she has anger toward her father, the report says. The report didn't explain what that meant or how it connected to the robberies.

Carter allegedly had Webb drive her to the jewelry store and wait in the parking lot. An employee of the store told police a young woman with blondish brown hair in pigtails and a baseball cap came in and asked to see some watches.

Carter then asked the employee if she had any cash and showed her the gun that was in her purse, the report says.

The employee is also an artist so she drew a detailed composite picture of the woman, which matched Carter, police said.

The couple decided to commit more robberies Friday because it was easy money, they told police.

The couple hopped a wall behind their apartment and went to Berekia Boutique at 9890 S. Maryland Parkway, they told police.

Carter told police she noticed a 5-year-old girl in the store and "lured her away from Webb because she knew a robbery was about to go down and she didn't want the little girl to see it," the report says.

Five minutes later they tried to rob Yes Perfume at 7680 S. Las Vegas Blvd. but the clerk couldn't open the cash drawer, so they fled with six bottles of perfume, according to the police report.

Shortly after that, the couple went to Salon Soleil tanning salon at 9620 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Carter told police she wanted to look into tanning "now that she had some money," according to the report.

Carter asked about prices and hours, then left. She told police that Webb went into the salon and robbed it while Carter waited in the car.

The last alleged robbery in their spree was at Surfer Steve's at 9770 S. Maryland Parkway, where Carter used to work. She said she had a problem with the owners because she felt she was wrongly fired, police said.

After Webb robbed the store they decided to go somewhere for lunch, according to the police report. A police officer spotted their Toyota Tercel as it pulled out of theshopping center where the surf store is located.

Carter, whom police said was driving, tried to get away from police by turning into a residential neighborhood but soon pulled over and the pair surrendered, the report notes.

Police said they were "extremely cooperative" and handed over the money they had stolen from the businesses.

"I can't explain their actions," Hammack said. "They blew me away."