Juneau police are looking for a masked man who robbed the Travelodge Hotel in the Mendenhall Valley on Wednesday night.
The man, whom police believe was armed at the time, fled the hotel with an undisclosed amount of cash before officers arrived on scene.
“We got the report right after it happened, and (the) guy ran out … the door toward O’Day Drive,” Juneau Police Department spokesman Lt. David Campbell said by phone Thursday morning.
A 30-year-old Travelodge employee reported the robbery to JPD at 8:33 p.m. The male victim reported the robber came up to the counter of the hotel with a “cloth-type” bag over his hand, pointed it at him and demanded money.
“No weapons were displayed, but the guy acted as though he was armed,” Campbell said of the suspect. “He had his hand in a bag and pretended he had something inside the bag.”
Police arrived at the hotel, located at 9200 Glacier Highway, about by 8:38 p.m., Campbell said.
“At that point in time, roughly four minutes and 45 seconds later, the person had already been gone,” Campbell said. He added, “The Travelodge backs up against a residential neighborhood, and then there’s a couple other businesses back there, too. So when we got the report, the guy had already fled out the back and was running.”
The incident was captured on the hotel’s video surveillance cameras. JPD released the footage to the public Thursday afternoon and asked the public for help identifying him. The videos can be seen above or on JPD’s Facebook page.
The video shows a man walking up to the counter, dressed all in black with his sweatshirt hood up, sunglasses on and a mask covering the lower part of his face. The man is seen placing an empty garbage bag on the counter to collect the money.
JPD said the victim estimated the suspect is a white male, about 30 years old, about 5’8” to 5’10” in height and weighing 200 pounds. JPD said the man appeared in the video to have material stuffed in his sweatshirt to alter the appearance of his body shape.
A receptionist at Travelodge said the 30-year-old employee was not at work today. The Empire left messages seeking comment from hotel management.
Police say their investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about the crime can report a tip to JPD at 586-0600 or to juneaucrimeline.com. Tipsters are guaranteed anonymity and can be rewarded.
