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Video helps nail ‘Salon Bandit’ suspect
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The lucky number seven was not so lucky for a man arrested in the “Salon Bandit” case who police say has a gambling addiction.
Police are attributing their swift arrest to an elaborate video surveillance system with seven cameras inside a Scottsdale tanning salon, which they say led to the identification of Joseph William Watson III, a former Valley journalist.
Watson, 35, said he committed a string of robberies at salons and spas to help pay his gambling debts, according to police.
Watson was arrested Friday on five counts of armed robbery with a sixth charge p e n d i n g hours after Stephen Campbell , owner of The Tanning Factory at 14651 N. Northsight Blvd., provided police with video from seven cameras inside the shop featuring footage of the suspect’s mode of operation.
A former sports writer for the Tribune and a former writer for the Phoenix New Times, Watson was arrested Friday afternoon playing poker at Casino Arizona after police received an anonymous tip.
Campbell said that The Tanning Factory had not been robbed in its two and a half years in the Valley, but some of its 20 locations owned by him and his partner in Las Vegas have been, which led them to install video surveillance in some of their shops.
“It minimizes theft and helps deter someone from even walking out with a bottle of lotion,” Campbell said. “The video cameras view any room that’s a common area of the shop.”
“By having them,” Campbell added, “I’m also able to log on to the computer at home and see what’s happening in any of our shops at anytime.”
Campbell estimated the suspect was inside the shop for about six minutes and could be seen on video ordering a clerk around the shop in search of money. Police say Watson placed a McDonald’s carryout bag over his hand, pointed it at the clerk and said he had a gun. The clerk was ordered to hand over money and then go to a back room.
Three salons and spas were hit within a few hours Thursday night. Store clerks told police they didn’t see a gun but, police say, Watson claimed he had one.
An undisclosed amount of cash was stolen from two of the salons, and Campbell said none was taken from his shop because the manager had made a cash deposit prior to the robbery.
Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said Tuesday, “The more cameras, the better.”
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