15-year-old allegedly tied to more than 30 robberies in King County

A 15-year-old male is at the center of a King County Sheriff’s Office investigation into more than 30 robberies across the past two weeks.

Deputies arrested the teenage suspect (one of two reported robbers, according to court documents) last week after responding to an armed robbery at a 76 gas station in Covington – the suspect’s alleged third robbery of the night. All thefts on the day of his arrest took place at gas stations.

The two suspects were armed, one with a pistol and another with brass knuckles, and used the weapons to intimidate the victims. According to court documents, the gun was reportedly stolen.

The string of robberies occurred last week in Renton, Kent, and Covington — all within an hour.

“Anytime you see somebody accused of multiple robberies like that, regardless of their age, that’s a very serious crime,” said Casey McNerthney, Director of Communications for the King County Prosecutor’s Office. “Particularly with the firearm enhancements that were added to those first three robbery charges, that can lead to a more significant sentence.”

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Now, the Prosecutor’s Office is alleging the robberies last week were a part of a much bigger scheme.

“These three robberies appear to be part of a series of over 30 robberies committed between 11/2/2022 and 11/17/2022,” said King County Sheriff’s Detective Benjamin Blakeman in court documents. “I told him that he was under arrest for the three robberies that he had committed tonight and he said, ‘okay.’ ”

Blakeman later told the suspect that he would eventually be charged with “numerous additional counts of robbery for all the other robberies,” to which he replied, “yeah, I know,” according to court documents.

No injuries were reported.

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The suspect is currently charged with two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of first-degree attempted robbery, one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, and one count of possession of a stolen firearm.