Man robs multiple stores in Pierce County
Man admits to robbing several stores in Pierce County.
Accident – Death – Obituary News : A man who carried out a series of armed robberies at various stores in Pierce County between 2021 and 2022 has been handed a significant sentence. Tyrone Anthony Prophet Jr., aged 31, admitted to committing six counts of first-degree robbery during a court hearing on Friday. The presiding Pierce County Superior Court Judge, Stanley Rumbaugh, imposed a sentence of 20 years and 9 months in prison, as per court documents.
Prophet was found guilty of targeting multiple stores in Pierce County at gunpoint from October 2021 to early March 2022, according to official records. His accomplice in these crimes, Arthur Dukes, aged 32, also pleaded guilty in late March to 10 counts of first-degree robbery for his involvement in robbing 14 stores between December 2021 and January 2022. Dukes was subsequently sentenced to 14 years and three months behind bars, court records confirm.
The arrests and subsequent charges against Prophet and Dukes coincided with a notable surge in robberies reported by the Tacoma Police Department during the initial months of 2022. The department recorded a total of 146 robberies between January 1 and February 20, significantly higher than the 62 incidents reported during the same period in 2021, as previously highlighted by the News Tribune.
Evidence linking Prophet and Dukes to the robberies included DNA samples, witness testimonies, phone records, and surveillance footage, as detailed in charging documents. While Dukes was implicated in a spree of weekly robberies, Prophet’s involvement was linked to less frequent incidents. Prosecutors alleged that Prophet was responsible for robbing the same T-Mobile store on two occasions in October and December 2021, with additional incidents recorded in Tacoma, Spanaway, and Fife.
Prosecutors described Prophet as composed and polite during the robberies, despite brandishing a firearm while demanding money from store employees. Although no shots were fired during the incidents, Dukes reportedly threatened a store clerk at Batteries Plus in Tacoma Mall, warning of dire consequences if authorities were contacted. Moreover, Prophet was accused of physically assaulting a store clerk during a robbery on February 10, according to prosecutors.
In a statement provided to the court in August 2022, a small business owner affected by one of the robberies expressed the personal toll of the incident, citing heightened stress and its impact on their well-being. Prophet’s criminal history includes a prior felony conviction in 2017 for shooting a convenience store clerk in Spanaway during an attempted robbery, resulting in a five-year prison sentence. He was released from custody in May 2021, as per official records.
Puneet Bsanti, a breaking news reporter for The News Tribune, covered this story. Graduating from Washington State University in 2023, Bsanti previously interned with the Bellingham Herald and hails from the Bay Area in California. Readers can show support for Bsanti’s reporting by subscribing to digital content..
– Man pleads guilty to robbing multiple Pierce County stores
– Man pleads guilty to robbing stores in Pierce County.
