Scooter helps police nab suspect in east Medford Dutch Bros robbery
Published 12:45 pm Thursday, August 22, 2024
- Suspect Raymond William Mathes was captured Wednesday riding a scooter that matched the description of this one used in a reported armed robbery at the Dutch Bros at the intersection of Crater Lake Highway and Whittle Avenue.
A man with a prior robbery conviction faces a new robbery charge accusing him of brandishing a weapon at a Medford coffee stand worker and demanding money before fleeing on an electric foot scooter.
Raymond William Mathes Jr., 34, was arrested Wednesday evening on suspicion of second-degree robbery, unlawful use of a weapon and menacing stemming from a Tuesday night robbery at the Dutch Bros coffee stand at 2832 Crater Lake Highway, according to a release issued Thursday by Medford police.
A Dutch Bros employee reported to police at 8:50 p.m. Tuesday that a masked suspect arrived at the stand near the Whittle Avenue intersection, displayed a handgun and demanded money.
The worker closed the window, dropped to the floor and called police, and Mathes fled on the scooter southbound on Whittle Avenue, according to the release.
Police stopped Mathes the next day riding a scooter that matched the one captured on the stand’s video surveillance.
Mathes fled on foot before police tackled him and took him into custody after a brief struggle, according to the release. At the time of his arrest, police found him to be in possession of an air rifle and an air pistol, the release said.
As of midday Wednesday, Jackson County Circuit Court records showed that the county district attorney’s office had not filed charges in the robbery case.
Court records show that Mathes has a prior second-degree robbery conviction stemming from a May 29, 2018, robbery. The following August, he was sentenced to five years, 10 months in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections, the mandatory minimum sentence for the crime under Oregon’s Measure 11 law.
He separately made an appearance Thursday in circuit court on an earlier charge of possessing methamphetamine on accusations his probation officer found him in possession of a baggie containing suspected crystal methamphetamine and a “ball of rolled up drugs” containing meth, marijuana and prescription Suboxone strips rolled up in saran wrap, according to an affidavit filed by Medford police April 30.
Police say Mathes removed the drugs from his basketball shorts while going through the metal detector at Jackson County Parole and Probation.
As of Thursday afternoon, Jackson County Jail records showed that Mathes was held on the methamphetamine charge and for violating his parole in the 2018 robbery conviction. His next court appearance in the meth possession case is scheduled for Sept. 3.