Winslow Township Police Investigate Spate Of Armed Robberies Targeting Delivery Drivers
WINSLOW TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) -- One taste of the chicken and ribs at Buffalo Bill's Barbecue in Sicklerville - will keep you coming back for more. At least that's the hope, but when a customer with an unusual phone number recently ordered delivery, it wasn't food they wanted.
"He didn't even get a chance to get to the door, two gentlemen came up. One had a gun with a bandana and put the gun right to his chest and demanded the money," says Brian Biggs, of Buffalo Bill's Barbecue.
That armed robbery is one of at least 11 in the last three weeks involving delivery drivers from businesses in the Sicklerville section of Winslow Township. Police won't identify the victims, but say the attackers' methods were consistent.
"As the driver pulls up one person will show up and then a couple more out from either in the bushes or in that general area and approach a driver with a handgun or a knife," Winslow Township Police Lt. Chris Dubler tells Eyewitness News.
Some of the delivery calls came from phone numbers generated through the internet- making it hard to track the suspects.
Several of the armed robberies happened in the Manor Hall Community where delivery drivers were called to empty homes or ones located in dark corners.
Last week Winslow Township police handed out crime alert flyers to food delivery businesses and talked about safety measures - like only taking credit card transactions late in the evening. Fortunately, so far no drivers have been seriously hurt.
"He was pretty shook up and he doesn't want to do deliveries anymore and I totally respect that," Biggs said.
Police say they arrested five teenagers believed to be suspects in the robberies and they recovered a replica pistol, but they believe there may be more suspects still out there.
