While most Woodstock residents were asleep, four armed thugs from elsewhere in the city drove into the neighborhood on July 12.

At 2:27 am, quartet of gun-flashing ruffians mounted a “takeover-style robbery” at the Plaid Pantry, at S.E. 42nd and Woodstock Boulevard.

The store’s security video told the story: The clerk was confronted by the men – one clearly armed with a handgun – who then robbed the store of a large quantity of cigarettes and cash before swaggering out with their loot.

Plaid Pantry, Inc., released images of the thieves – and put out a $5,000 reward for information leading to their arrest.

That may have helped. On July 19, Portland Police Bureau Public (PPB) Information Officer Sgt. Peter Simpson was able to announce that two of the suspected robbers had already been arrested.

PPB’s élite Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) rolled up to a house in the Montavilla neighborhood on S.E. 87th Avenue, just north of S.E. Division Street, at 8:40 am, where PPB Robbery Division detectives arrested 20-year-old Dillon Mitchell Sparks.

Two hours later, SERT officers and detectives arrived at an Oregon City home at 10:30 am, and arrested a second suspect – 20-year-old Nicholas Emilio Lunetta.

“Detectives recovered a rifle and a handgun during the search,” Simpson said. “The handgun is believed to be the same gun used in the robbery.”

Both Sparks and Lunetta have been charged with one count of Robbery in the First Degree, a Class A Felony, and are currently lodged in the Multnomah County Detention Center with their bails set at $250,000.

“Detectives are continuing to investigate, and are working to determine the identity of the other two suspects,” concluded Simpson.