Affidavit: Customers Waiting In Line Were Oblivious To Casper Robbery
An affidavit of probable cause filed in connection to two Casper gas station robberies in November says customers waiting in line at a Loaf N Jug were seemingly oblivious to their clerk being threatened with a gun.
And, when the robber left, the stunned clerk went right back to ringing up his customers.
The affidavit supports charges against Billy Joshua Liska and Jasmine Nicole Atkins relating to back-to-back gas station robberies on the evening of November 22. Liska is charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated assault and battery.
Atkins is charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary as she allegedly provided Liska transportation during the robberies.
Court documents state a Casper police were called to two armed robberies that happened within minutes of each other. The Big D store on East Second Street was reported robbed at 5:12 p.m. and a nearby Loaf N Jug was reported robbed at 5:19 p.m.
The clerk at the Big D reportedly told police that a man, later identified as Liska, went into the store and concealed his face. Liska then approached the counter, lifted his shirt to show a tan handgun and demanded money.
"(The clerk) said that after she saw the gun in the waistband, she was afraid for her life and complied with every demand," the affidavit says.
According to the affidavit, the clerk pressed the emergency hold-up alarm button but realized it wasn't functioning after roughly five minutes, so she called 911.
Minutes later, police responded to another robbery at a Loaf N Jug on East Second Street with a suspect who exactly matched Liska's description.
The clerk at the Loaf N Jug told police he was busy with a long line of customers when a man came in and grabbed a bag of potato chips and waited in line. Once the man got to the counter, he covered his face with a black bandana and approached the clerk.
"(The clerk said that the male told him 'give me the f----- money, I'm not playing games,'" the affidavit says. "(The clerk) then saw the male lift up his sweatshirt and showed him a tan semi-automatic pistol."
After taking the money from the register, Liska left the store. The Loaf N Jug clerk told police that the customers waiting in line seemed oblivious to what had just transpired. "Seemingly in a state of shock," the Loaf N Jug clerk helped the rest of the customers who were in line.
In the minutes after the robberies, a woman and her daughter reported that they were the victims of an attempted car-jacking near Wyoming Boulevard and CY Avenue. The affidavit states they told police they were on their way to see Frozen 2 when a white Subaru pulled up alongside them before getting out and pointing a gun at them. They drove away and found a police officer.
The next day, police interviewed a man who said he was in the vehicle at the time of the robberies.
Joshua Kraus reportedly told authorities that he was with Liska and Atkins when Liska allegedly said he needed to do a "gas station run" meaning to shoplift. Kraus allegedly told police that the three of them got into Atkins's green sedan and she was driving.
According to the affidavit, Kraus described "dozing off" but knew Liska used a gun in robbing the first convenience store.
After the first robbery, Kraus told police that Liska came back to the vehicle and said, "that s--- was easy."
Kraus reportedly told police that he realized Liska robbed the store when he was counting money. Asked why he did nothing to leave or call for help, Kraus allegedly said he was hungry and wanted food, particularly potato chips.
After the robberies, authorities "pinged" Liska's phone on Interstate 25 near Wheatland and then Cheyenne. Not long after, Liska called dispatchers because he'd heard police were looking for him.
A Natrona County Sheriff's Office investigator spoke to Liska on the phone and said he was at a party in Fort Collins and had nothing to do with the robberies. The investigator tried to get Liska to give himself up, but he hung up the phone.