Comcast Technician Arrested In Oregon Robbery
Check-Cashing Store Employee Hit in Head With Crowbar
Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 7/9/2009 4:38:32 PM
A Comcast employee in Portland, Ore., was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly robbed a check-cashing store of more than $3,000, bashed a female employee in the head with a crowbar and fled the scene in one of the cable company's vans.
Michael Clarence Hagen, 25, was arrested on charges of attempted aggravated murder, robbery and assault, according to the Associated Press. Portland police confiscated a metal weapon and the stolen cash from the van Hagen was driving.
In a statement, Comcast said: "We are appalled by this situation, and our thoughts remain with the store employee and her family. We continue to work closely and cooperate with local authorities and have put the individual on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The safety of the members of the Portland community is our top priority."
According to police, the 37-year-old victim's injuries were not life-threatening. She was taken to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital for treatment.
Hagen, a Comcast technician for five years, has no prior record but faces multiple civil liens and judgments dating to 2006, The Oregonian reported.
NBC affiliate KGW reported that Hagen's family told police he was going through tough financial times and had just received an eviction notice from his apartment manager.
Hagen is suspected of cutting the phone lines of Ace Checks Cashed, in southeast Portland, in order to trick the clerk into allowing him behind the store's locked partition.
Employees at the furniture store next door found their own phones dead and called police at about 10:45 a.m. after seeing the check-cashing clerk with Hagen and suspecting something "fishy," according to The Oregonian.
Police stopped two Comcast vans nearby and took both drivers into custody for questioning, according to KPTV, the Fox affiliate in Portland. They later released one of the men and arrested Hagen.
"I don't really love Comcast, but the people are nice. So I couldn't imagine that. It's one of those dumb crook stories if it's really true," Portland resident Chad Itami told KPTV.
According to news reports, police initially thought the man who fled the robbery scene was impersonating a Comcast employee.
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