"Subway Bandit" finally sandwiched in Colorado

Tim Keithley | Guest columnist

Rest a little easier heading into Subway for lunch these days, folks, the “Subway Bandit” remains in the clink.

Forty-seven year-old David Grimes of Hopkins, Texas is behind bars in Aurora, Colorado having allegedly knocked off six different Subway restaurants in the past six weeks, according to Ruidoso Police Detective Sgt. Ray Merritt.

“It all started October 22nd with Mr. Grimes standing in line at the Subway on Sudderth Drive ordering a chicken-bacon ranch melt,” Sgt. Merritt said on the radio this week. “When he got through the line all the way to the register, he apparently decided to rob the store of its cash while suggesting that he had a gun in his pocket. He got away with the money and some cookies, but forgot to take his sandwich.”

Merritt said the Ruidoso robbery was just the first of his sandwich-ridden crime spree. About a week later, a Subway in Alamogordo was hit by someone fitting Grimes’ same description. Merritt said their local law enforcement almost nabbed him the next day during a traffic stop.

“Police had a good description of him inside a stolen vehicle and stopped him on Highway 54,” he said. “That eventually led to a car chase down the highway and through the desert. The officers let him go because their cars weren’t equipped to chase through rugged terrain. Then he fell off our radar.”

Merritt said after stealing a second car in Bent, New Mexico, the “Subway Bandit” headed north to Colorado to continue his crime spree. There have been four Subway restaurant robberies in the Denver area in recent days — the last one in Aurora, Colorado.

“He’s finally in custody,” Merritt told us. “He’ll need to face the robbery charges in Colorado, and then when he’s available we’ll extradite him back here to face felony robbery charges in Lincoln County.”

He probably wishes by now he hadn’t forgotten his chicken-bacon ranch melt back in Ruidoso - prison food probably doesn’t taste quite as good.

Tim Keithley is the host of the New Mexico in the Morning radio show Monday-Friday, 9 to 10 a.m., on KRUI 1490 AM, KWMW 105.1 FM and 99.1 FM or live streaming atwww.mtdradio.com.