Police are still looking for leads in a robbery at the Hyatt Place Hotel in downtown Scottsdale early Tuesday, in which a man wearing a wig helped himself to cash in the front-desk register.
Not an unusual crime. But we find the man's actions just following the unarmed robbery a bit baffling.
A police write-up says the robbery occurred about 12:45 a.m. Tuesday at the hotel at 7300 East Third Avenue. A man of "unknown race" in a wig and black gloves strolled up to the desk clerk and demanded money.
After swiping the dough, the man then grabbed a pair of scissors from the counter area and cut the front-desk phone lines.
Did the robber think the desk clerk would run out to find a pay phone? Nearly everyone has a mobile phone these days. Cutting land lines is so 20th-century.
On the other hand, the guy hasn't been caught yet. Maybe the few seconds it took the clerk or someone near him to fish a phone from a pocket gave the robber all the time he needed to make a clean getaway.
Not to give anyone ideas, but it seems like a mobile-phone jammer would be so much effective in situations like these.