The case has cops who thought they had seen it all shaking their heads a little bit.
"It's bizarre. It's really bizarre," said South Salt Lake police Capt. Chris Snyder. "I wish all our cases were this easy."
South Salt Lake police arrested a man Tuesday who returned to the scene of the crime not once, but twice. Making the incident more unbelievable, the alleged thief left the store clerks with all of his personal identification.
The strange scenario began Thursday when a 41-year-old man filled out a loan application at Rainbow Check Line, 3424 S. State. The next day he went back to the same business but this time was denied a second loan, Snyder said.
The man allegedly told the clerk he had a gun and would rob her.
"He said 'I have a gun,' and pushed (the clerk) back in her seat. He told her to go to the bathroom and count to 1,000," said Rainbow Check Line area manager Wendy Weeks.
Even though the man got away that day, investigators had a copy of a driver's license he provided for the first loan, Snyder said.
Bryan Eames was charged in 3rd District Court Monday with one count of aggravated robbery and a $25,000 warrant was issued for his arrest.
But detectives didn't have to look very hard for the man. He showed up at Rainbow for a third time on Tuesday about 2 p.m. and asked for the same clerk whom he had allegedly robbed.
Snyder said investigators weren't sure why the man returned Tuesday.
Employees recognized him and called police. The man spotted officers arriving, ran and was captured near 300 East and 3400 South.
After detectives were finished interviewing him at South Salt Lake police headquarters he was lead to a waiting squad car to take him to the Salt Lake County Jail. The man was wearing a hoodie, pajama-bottom pants and no shoes. His eyes were shut as police helped him into a patrol car.
The man is also wanted in connection with the theft of a car from a dealership in Murray on the same day as the loan service robbery. Again, he gave the business a copy of his driver's license to test drive a car and then took off in it, Snyder said.
As of Tuesday the car had not been recovered.
A check of court records showed the man has an extensive criminal history dating back more than 15 years, including arrests for forgery, theft, kidnapping, witness tampering and aggravated assault.
The owners of Rainbow said the incident was scary and they were installing a wall Tuesday to give their employees a little more protection. But they were mostly in disbelief over the bizarre series of events.
"I can't believe he's stupid enough to do this," Weeks said. "We must have great customer service skills if he keeps coming back."
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com