A man who robbed multiple stores at gunpoint in Pierce County over the course of about five months has been sentenced.
Arthur Dukes, 32, pleaded guilty in late March to 10 counts of first-degree robbery for robbing 14 stores from December 2021 to January 2022. He was sentenced on Wednesday at Pierce County Superior Court to 14 years, three months in prison.
His co-defendant, Tyrone Anthony Prophet Jr., 31, was charged with 13 counts of first-degree robbery, theft of a firearm and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and his trial is set for May 8, court records show.
The arrests and charges came at a time when the Tacoma Police Department saw a significant increase in robberies during the first two months of 2022. Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 20, the department reported 146 robberies. During the same time in 2021, that number was 62, the News Tribune previously reported.
DNA evidence from a latex glove left at one of the crime scenes, witness statements, phone records and surveillance footage identified Dukes and Prophet as the suspects for the robberies, charging documents show.
In an interview with police, Prophet said that he and Dukes were close. He considered Dukes a “brother,” and they had recently been separated due to a conflict regarding money, court documents show.
Dukes walked into a variety of businesses in Tacoma, Gig Harbor, University Place, Spanaway and Parkland between December and February. He pulled out a silver-and-black handgun and demanded cash. Prosecutors say that Dukes used a starter pistol that only fired blanks in all of the robberies.
Altogether, Dukes stole at least $2,150 from stores in Pierce County. He would rob different stores every week from Dec. 6 to Jan. 11. The robberies included several Subway sandwich shops, a vape store, an ice cream shop and a smoothie business.
Cell phone records and witness statements placed Dukes and Prophet at about two of the robberies at the same time. It is unclear how many robberies the men committed together. Dukes was captured on surveillance video on Jan. 7 fleeing a robbery in Parkland and getting in a getaway car, charging documents show.
Gunshots weren’t fired in any of the robberies, but prosecutors wrote in charging documents that Dukes threatened a store clerk at Batteries Plus at the Tacoma Mall, telling the employee he would be shot if he called anyone, documents show.
According to the probable cause document, Dukes has eight prior felony convictions, including two counts of attempted first-degree robbery in 2010.
A vape shop owner who was targeted by Dukes wrote a statement to the court.
“From that moment forward I am afraid of people that have masks, hoodies on and people that keep their hands in their pockets. The panic attacks I suffer now are horrible. Therapy and medication are the only things that help,” the statement said.
Robberies attributed to Arthur Dukes:
▪ Dec. 6, 2021, T-Mobile, 14902 Pacific Ave. S., Spanaway
▪ Dec. 13, 2021, Better Vape, 4326 Bridgeport Way W., University Place
▪ Dec. 19, 2021, Subway, 1816 S. Mildred St., Tacoma
▪ Dec. 21, 2021, Subway, 4804 Point Fosdick Dr., Gig Harbor
▪ Dec. 31, 2021, Subway, 6820 Kimball Dr., Gig Harbor
▪ Jan. 4, 2022, Dreamer Ice Cream, 622 S. Sprague, Tacoma
▪ Jan. 6, 2022, Batteries Plus, 4051 Tacoma Mall Blvd., Tacoma
▪ Jan. 7, 2022, Emerald City Smoothie, 212 S. Garfield St., Tacoma
▪ Jan. 11, 2022, Runway Fashion Exchange, 4020 S. Steele St., Tacoma
▪ Feb. 10, 2022, AM/PM, 1101 S. Sprague, Tacoma
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