Masked robber empties register at Red River restaurant

A masked robber walked into the Dairy Bar restaurant in Red River Monday night (June 11) and demanded the owner empty the register, coming away with an undisclosed amount of cash and leaving authorities searching for leads in a robbery that lasted less than 25 seconds, according to Red River Town Marshal David Smith.

Smith and Taos County Crime Stoppers have since posted still

frames of the masked robber, who appears on surveillance footage wearing two pairs of glasses, a gray beanie and whose face appears to be covered with a bespeckled white hood.

At this early stage, law enforcement have identified the suspect as a man, possibly white or Hispanic, between 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-9 inches tall with a “slight build.” Smith said the man also wore a shirt with a “unique” logo. Other identifiers are lacking at this stage.

“He was pretty much covered head-to-toe,” Smith said in a phone interview on Tuesday ( June 12).

The marshal said the owner employs a handful of workers at the Main Street restaurant, which is popular for its burgers, fries and ice cream. By the time the suspect walked through her doors around 9:40 p.m. Monday night, however, she was the only one behind the counter, Smith said.

Smith said the suspect approached the counter, demanded cash, but did not clearly indicate whether he carried a weapon.

“She just assumed he did, complied and got him out of there,” Smith said, adding that, although there were a few other customers who entered the restaurant around the same time as the robber, none of them were aware of what was happening until the suspect was out the door, cash and register tray in hand.

Smith said it’s the first robbery to take place in the small high mountain town since the

2016 robbery of People’s Bank on Main Street in 2016.

Anyone with information on the robbery or the suspect is asked to contact the Red River Marshal’s Office at (575) 7546166 or Taos County Crime Stoppers at (575) 758-4258.