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Video captures son rob mother at Olympia Chevron, deputies say

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Surveillance video captures the moments detectives say a clerk gets robbed by her own son at a Thurston County Chevron.

Deputies believe the woman was in on the whole thing.

The video shows a man in a blue hoodie hide his face from cameras as he walks into the convenience store.

"He clearly kind of knows where the cameras are and he's head down most of the time,” said Lt. Ray Brady, Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

According to deputies, the thief is Ariq Cockerham, 21, posing as a robber to steal cash from his own mother, Steffany Moustfa, 38, who was a clerk at the Arbor Center Chevron in Olympia.

Video shows the man walk into the convenience store and wait in line.

Lt. Ray Brady said Cockerham then handed his mother a note, lifted his shirt and flashed an airsoft-style gun.

His mother then walks over to the window, grabs a brown bag and peers outside.

She walks back, empties the register and hands her son the cash.

Cockerham leaves the store, another customer walks inside, then Moustfa hits the panic button and calls 911, playing the victim on the phone to dispatch.

However, the Thurston County Sheriff's Office said the reported armed robbery was a scheme the family planned for days.

Thanks to a witness, deputies tracked down Cockerham and the getaway driver, Linda Harper, 37. Deputies found the gun and the stolen cash and the pair started to crack.

"Their stories started falling apart and led into the fact that mom was actually the cashier and was part of it,” said Lt. Brady.

The family’s plan to make quick cash wound up sending them straight to jail. The suspects were charged with theft.