COVINGTON - Three Northern Kentucky businesses have been hit this month by a robber who uses a chemical irritant to spray the clerks in the face, temporarily blinding them and freeing him to make off with the cash register's contents.

        Police in Bellevue, Newport and Covington are investigating robberies committed by a man who victims say poses as a customer trying to pay for merchandise, then pulls out a can and blasts the clerk in the face.

        At Smokes and Spirits in Bellevue, a man went inside Oct. 4 and asked for a pack of cigarettes, Bellevue Police Chief William Cole said. When the clerk started to open the cash register, she was sprayed with Mace or pepper spray. The man took money from the register and fled.

        The next weekend, a man of nearly identical description walked into Latonia Liquors in Covington, put a soft drink on the counter, then sprayed the clerk with Mace or pepper spray.

        “He cleaned out the cash register,” said Lt. Col. Jim Liles, Covington assistant police chief.

        A witness across the street said the man fled north on Decoursey Pike in a blue car, possibly a Ford Mustang, driven by another person.

        The next day police suspect the same man struck again, in Newport at a Country Food Basket. The store clerk said she was unaware of the other robberies and suspected nothing when a man came to the register to buy a soft drink.

        “He was very friendly when he came in, and then when I opened the (cash register) drawer, he Maced me right in the face,” said the woman, who asked not to be named. “I didn't even see it, and my daughter was behind me, and he tried to Mace her, too. I was scared to death. I was completely blind. I couldn't see a thing until the ambulance came, and they washed my eyes out.”

        Police said that although all three stores robbed had security surveillance systems, only one had its system activated during the robberies.

        Police have been unable to determine what type of chemical the robber used on his victims. The suspect described in all three robberies is a thin white man, about 6 feet tall. Witnesses say he is clean-shaven with dark hair and wears different colored ball caps.

        Each of the stores was robbed of $150 to $250.

        “Everyone who has a security system, make sure it is working because that's a pretty good witness if you have it on tape,” said Mr. Cole, the Bellevue chief.

Abduction ordeal rattles councilman
Excerpts of 911 transcript
City vs. suburbs? Friction heats up
United Way far from goal
Pope rejects sex abuse policy
GUTIERREZ: Build as we say, not do
Archbishop supports Metro tax hike
Judge: Charter school must notify parents
Obituary: Rev. Sanford C. Lindsey, served Sayler Park
Prosecutors must say why juror was excluded
Silverton tries again for tax approval
Teachers adapt curriculum to study Iraq
Two men rob Franklin Savings
Cell phone rings up 4 arrests
Congrats
Dem: State AG wrong to stump for Stratton
Faith Matters: Gaither celebrates unity
Judge allows leaflets to be distributed
Neighborhoods: Once-a-year special events
Sewer board to draft bylaws
Kentucky Digest
Nursing home review unfinished
Chemical-spray robber strikes 3 stores
Toledo Zoo to return costly koala
W. Nile donated-blood tie checked