Broken Arrow Police Work To Find Robbery Suspect

A man accused of robbing a Broken Arrow eye clinic is on the run after managing to run past employees.

9/27/2018 Related Story: BA Eye Clinic Workers Seen In Video Trying To Stop Thief

Police believe the same man could be connected to another robbery at an eyeglass store in Tulsa.

Broken Arrow Police got surveillance video from the robbery and at a store in Tulsa, a witness got a tag number.

The One Vision eye clinic was the latest store to be hit, where a thief grabbed a handful of ladies Ray-Ban sunglasses and took off.

The two women working at the time tried to block him from leaving.

“He had started to put them in his pocket and she said, 'Hey, you need to put them down,' and that's when he ran out,” said Optician Erika Palmer.

The suspect was a first-timer at the One Vision clinic but thefts like this are so common, stores call each other to warn them.

A thief matching the description hit the office of Dr. Frank Moore at 81st and Memorial Wednesday and took about $1,500 worth of frames.

A witness got a tag number, but police are still working on making connections between the crimes.

“They tend to hit more than one office, so, we pretty much expect he'll be here sooner or later,” said Dr. Wesley Rainwater.

Rainwater said he's been hit twice by the same man. He said thieves go after the Ray-Bans because they're expensive, and apparently easy to sell.

Each frame is worth at least $150.

“He'll come in, ask few questions and loiter around some. He always goes to the Ray-Bans and as soon as he gets there he grabs them and he's gone,” said Wesley.

While the stores take their own precautions, some locking doors and adding cameras, the police are trying to tie the clues together, a tag number here, surveillance there.

Optometrists in south Tulsa and Broken Arrow are watching closely for the man, believing he'll do it again.

“I just want to take care of people, it gets really annoying,” Rainwater said. 

And police need anyone with information, pictures help of course, and they encourage stores to report one frame is stolen as they try to find the people responsible.