Police authorities from Providence, Rhode Island, put an end to a robbery suspect’s potato crime spree Friday afternoon.

No, this man did not try to steal potatoes; instead, he used the starchy vegetable as a weapon in two separate robbery attempts. Gary Deming, who hails from Cranston, first headed to a convenience store in the city’s Charles neighborhood, wherein he demanded all the money from the store’s cash register. Deming wielded a potato, which he tried to disguise as a gun, but failed to get the cash. Instead, the convenience store manager retaliated by running after him using a baseball bat until he left the store.

In another incident, Deming made an attempt to rob the neighborhood dry cleaners. This time, however, an employee at the establishment handed him a counterfeit $20 that she took out of a decoy cash register.

In a separate police report, Deming was said to have also broken into his sister’s home on Douglas Avenue just a few hours prior to the two attempted robberies. According to Deming’s sister, he was a druggie and had stolen a hundred dollars in cash, a Michael Kors purse, and a debit card before fleeing her home.

She added that it was not the first time Deming had stolen from her.

Deming, who also has an outstanding warrant for larceny in East Providence, was arrested by Providence police on Thursday afternoon. He was charged with larceny in December, after admitting to authorities that he had stolen two laptop computers and some jewelry from his sister’s home over the course of months. Deming was living on the ground floor of his sister’s home at the time, and showed multiple pawn shop receipts as proof of his crimes.

A telephone listing for Deming has yet to be found.

Image via Wikimedia Commons