Man Tries To Rob Starbucks, Gets Coffee Instead

An Alabama man's plan to rob a Starbucks was allegedly thwarted by a cup of joe.

Phillip Sawdey was arrested over the weekend after his attempt to pilfer a Huntsville Starbucks went bizarrely awry, according to Alabama news site Al.com.

Sawdey reportedly went to the Starbucks at 8 a.m. on Sunday and demanded that the clerk "give him all the money," the Huntsville News Wire writes. But the woman behind the counter refused to open the cash register, instead offering the would-be robber "a cup of coffee" instead.

Sawdey took her up on the offer, accepting the beverage before leaving the store.

WEAR-TV reports that Sawdey was soon nabbed by police in the parking lot. He was arrested for robbery without incident and booked into the Madison County Jail.

Coffee isn't the only item some robbers have accepted in lieu of cash. One man allegedly accepted a weed-eater instead of money during a robbery attempt in 2011, according to the Corpus Christi Caller Times. And a worker at a Whataburger in Tulsa, Oklahoma, thwarted a machete-wielding robber by offering him fries, according to a 2010 report from the Tulsa World.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post incorrectly claimed that a man accepted weed in lieu of money during a Corpus Christi robbery attempt. He actually accepted a weed eater in lieu of money.