Riverview area gas station clerks and patrons can breath a little easier following the arrest of a Valrico man in connection with a series of armed robberies last month.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Trevor N. Gipson, 21 of 2918 Cloverfield Lane in Valrico, who is also a suspect a series of other robberies in Riverview and FishHawk, was arrested shorty after robbing the Circle K located at 6211 North Dale Mabry Highway.
Based on the alert from the Circle K robbery and information gathered by deputies, Gipson was arrested just 40 minutes after he pointed a handgun at the clerk while wearing a black mask.
Detectives said that the store was not Gipson’s first target. Gipson is also responsible for an armed robbery within the City of Temple Terrace. According to HCSO, on Tuesday, February 21, 2017 Gipson robbed two 7-Eleven stores within 30 minutes. The first robbery occurred at the 7-Eleven located at 10016 McMullen Road in Riverview at 4:07 am, followed by the second just 25 minutes later at the 7-Eleven located at 16781 Fishhawk Blvd, in Lithia. In both cases Gipson allegedly entered the stores, approached the clerk and demanded cash.
After receiving money, he fled the store.
HCSO deputies had a number of other area gas station and business robbery cases to follow, including the one at the Speedway gas station located at 13179 Highway 301 S. in Riverview that occurred on Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at approximately 3:23 a.m. Less than two weeks following the incident, detectives were able to identified and arrest Joshua Abdull McClain, 16 of Plant City, whom they said was armed with a shotgun.
While unrelated to the Gipson case, McClain, approached the clerk, demanded money from the register and then fled with the cash in a southern direction, possibly toward The Grove at SouthShore apartment complex, deputies said. The robbery was the third in a row at the same business since January, and detectives believe that McLain is also responsible for the robberies that occurred on Monday, January 9, at 2:51 a.m. and on Wednesday, January 18, 2017, at 2:46 a.m. During the search for this suspect, Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay was offering a reward of up to $3,000 for information that would lead to the identification and arrest of the suspect involved in these cases.
For future cases Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-800-873-TIPS (8477), or to report anonymously online at www.crimestopperstb.com.
