HIGH PLAINS, TX - A string of robberies allegedly perpetrated by a thief nicknamed 'The Spork Bandit' came to an end today with his arrest at a local convenience store. Police say Kenneth Stonehead, 28, was detained by the store clerk after an attempted
robbery, and that his modus operandi made him a prime suspect in several similar crimes.
 "He would wait until he was the only customer in the store and then threaten the clerk with a spork." said Sgt. Myron Hollowpoint, the arresting officer.
A spork, the handy plastic utensil that combines the uses of a spoon and fork, seems an unlikely weapon but can apparently be quite menacing in a crime scene setting. "He left a lot of his previous victims pretty shaken up." said Hollowpoint.
This time, however, Stonehead's victim was not intimidated by the jagged teeth of the spork. "I've had guys try to rob me with broken bottles and sharpened pens before." said Freddie Pennytray, the store clerk and momentary hero. "That spork was nothing." Pennytray held
Stonehead at bay behind the counter with a sockfull of staplers until police arrived.
Stonehead apparently chose the odd implement because of his prior criminal record. One more conviction with the use of a deadly weapon would have handed him a mandatory thirty year sentence under the state's 'three strikes' policy. He turned to the spork after a failed
robbery attempt using no weapon at all. Stonehead recalled: "I handed the guy a note saying, 'I have a gun in my pocket.' He handed me a note back that said: 'I have a gun in your face!', and when I looked up from the note, he did."
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