By CASSANDRA SHOFAR Staff Writer

MEDINA — An armed man walked into Check Into Cash Friday afternoon, tied up a clerk and robbed the store, police said.

The man — described as black, in his early to mid-30s, medium build, around 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8, bald and wearing all black and a black lightweight jacket — entered the store at 1132 N. Court St. around 12:20 p.m. He asked the clerk for a loan and then moved around the desk and out of camera shot, pulling out a gun and demanding money from the cash box, Lt. Bob Starcher said.

During her 911 call to police, the 22-year-old clerk said she was the only one in the store at the time of the robbery and the man took her in the back room, tied her up with duct tape, taped her mouth, took the cassette tape out of the security camera and took off.

“He took me in the back so I couldn’t see out the window,” the clerk calmly told the police dispatcher. “He basically hog-tied me with my hands behind my back. It wasn’t very tight, so I just took my arms out when I knew he had left.”

The clerk told police that because she was in the back of the store for two to three minutes, she was not able to see which direction the robber went and if he was in a vehicle or on foot.

Police arrived minutes after the call and “established a perimeter until the scene was secured,” Starcher said.

“Police are asking anyone who may have any information regarding this incident to contact us,” he said.

A similar robbery occurred at Check Into Cash in Brunswick on July 7 where two men threatened a Check Into Cash clerk and customer with a semi-automatic gun and tied them up with plastic zip fasteners.

After entering information about the Brunswick robbery into LEADS (Law Enforcement Automated Data System), Brunswick police learned 10 other police departments in several jurisdictions — including Lakewood, Sandusky, Massillon, Canton, Sidney, Bowling Green and Mansfield — had similar robberies at Check Into Cash stores.

One of the suspects in the Brunswick robbery, Terrell D. Aaron, 27, of Mansfield, later was arrested in Mansfield on an aggravated robbery warrant. The other man is still at large.

If anyone has information about the Medina incident, they can contact police at 330-725-7777.

Shofar may be reached at 330-721-4044 or cshofar@ohio.net.