Spider-Man suspect pleads to robberies

A 46-year-old donned a child’s Spider-Man mask and went on an armed robbery spree a year ago, although one store employee thought the robber simply was pointing a BB gun and refused to give him any money.

“The M.O. in each robbery was the same,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Poole said Tuesday, right before Jon G. Woodburn pleaded guilty in federal court to six counts of armed robbery at motels and convenience stores across Chattanooga.

Some store clerks, however, apparently thought Mr. Woodburn actually was carrying a firearm and gave him quantities of cash ranging from $50 to $250, Mr. Poole said.

Mr. Woodburn is an admitted crack cocaine addict with a criminal record. He has a missing index finger on his right hand that helped police identify and arrest him.

They also described Mr. Woodburn, who was arrested at a motel in East Ridge after his 11-day crime spree, as having an ill-fitting mask that he had to alter conspicuously alter to accommodate his face.

“The eyes were cut out so the defendant could still wear his glasses,” Mr. Poole told U.S. District Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice Jr., who later referred to the crimes as a series of “stick-ups.”

Such routine “stick-ups,” especially when performed on a repeated basis by one person who seemingly is capable of violence, often are prosecuted in federal court, where sentences tend to be more severe, officials said.

Mr. Woodburn, who still is being prosecuted in state court on four counts of aggravated robbery, faces up to 20 years in prison on each federal charge of armed robbery when Judge Mattice sentences him Sept. 8.

“We will take (these kinds of cases) in accordance with the Project Safe Neighborhoods program if we believe the penalties will be more severe,” Mr. Poole said after Mr. Woodburn’s guilty plea.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a federal program that works with local law enforcement to take the most violent offenders off the streets.

Victim Ian Calderwood, who was working at the Kangaroo Express on Hixson Pike during one robbery, at first didn’t take the masked man seriously, according to his testimony at a state court preliminary hearing last June.

“He came in with a gun, pointed it right at us to start off with and I — honestly — I thought it was a joke,” Mr. Calderwood said.