An Odessa man is facing an armed robbery charge after authorities said surveillance video caught him without his face mask moments before he robbed a car wash.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, employees of the Mighty Wash on Kermit Highway called 911 around 8 p.m. Sunday to report an employee had been robbed.
When officers arrived, a 20-year-old employee said two men wearing all black and face masks rushed into the office. One of the men pushed him and the other pointed a gun at him before he stole roughly $1,000 from a back room, the report stated. Three other employees corroborated the man’s story.
Officers watched surveillance video of the men’s approach to the business, the actual robbery and their exit.
According to the report, both suspects were black men with black hoodies, but the gunman was wearing white shoes and the man who actually grabbed the cash was wearing red shoes.
When approaching the business, the man in the white shoes wasn’t wearing a mask and his image was shared with officers throughout the police department, according to the report.
An OPD corporal identified the man as Joel Shorter Jr., 40 and it was confirmed by comparing his past jail booking photos with the surveillance video, the report stated.
Shorter was arrested Wednesday and he remains in the Ector County jail on a $100,000 surety bond.
