Man charged in DuPont armed robbery

A Seattle man accused in seven armed robberies in three counties on one December night is charged with first-degree robbery for allegedly holding up a DuPont convenience store during the spree.

Siosaia Lausii Vaivaka Fifita, 23, is accused of robbing the Union 76 outlet on Barksdale Avenue on Dec. 18.

Charging papers gave this account:

Accompanied by a masked accomplice, Fifita entered the store about 12:50 a.m., pumped a shotgun and demanded the clerk give him money in the till. At one point he nudged the clerk with the barrel of the gun.

The accomplice took cigarettes and tobacco products before the two fled with money from the till.

Police called to the DuPont store knew of a robbery of a Target store in Lacey and learned of a convenience store robbery in Fife while at the scene.

After they viewed video of the Lacey robbery, they saw the robber there wearing the same clothing in the three hold-ups.

U.S. marshals arrested Fifita on Feb. 12 in Utah. He since has been held in Thurston County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail on two counts of first-degree robbery.

Lacey police eventually tied Fifita to armed robberies of the Lacey Target, a Lacey Chevron station, a Lacey-area Mobil station, the Tahoma Express convenience store in Fife and 7-Elevens in Kent and Tukwila, documents say.

Pierce County prosecutors said they might charge Fifita in the Fife robbery once police documents are available to them.

Fifita was convicted in 2008 of residential burglary in King County, and in 2009 of second-degree burglary there.

The second man in the DuPont robbery has not been arrested.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Man charged in DuPont armed robbery."