A former marijuana store employee is facing robbery charges after allegedly holding up the store at gunpoint and stealing nearly $4,000 from the register Tuesday night.
Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Thomas Temple issued a $100,000 arrest warrant Friday for 39-year-old Aaron Louis Solomon, who is accused of robbing Pipe & Leaf, located at 901 Old Steese Highway. He faces a charge of felony first-degree robbery.
According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, Solomon entered Pipe & Leaf around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, purchased some product and left the store. Later that night, around 11:40 p.m., a tall man wearing a trash bag, mask, and gloves walked into the shop and locked the door behind him. The man approached the register while holding a gun, prompting the employee to hand over $3,909.80 in cash, the complaint stated.
The employee told police the man looked familiar and suspected it was Solomon based on his hair and facial hair.
The owner of Pipe & Leaf told Fairbanks police that Solomon had been fired in November 2024 for frequent absences and for stealing more than 2,000 customer loyalty points, which he transferred to his personal account. The owner reported seeing Solomon near Splash & Dash on Airport Way Wednesday afternoon and provided police with the vehicle’s license plate number.
Although the vehicle wasn’t registered to Solomon, the registered owner’s address matched the one Solomon had listed during his employment at Pipe & Leaf.
Surveillance footage from The Flower Pot Garden Center at 1025 Blair Road showed a man parking a silver SUV near the business around 8:30 p.m. and staying for about 20 minutes. The same vehicle returned around 11:30 p.m., parking farther down Blair Road. At 11:41 p.m., video captured the man running down the road with a bag and pulling something off his head.
Contact Haley Lehman at 907-459-7575 or by email at hlehman@newsminer.com.
