Duct tape puts Colonie restaurant robber in bind

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

The duct tape a Rensselaer man used to detain his robbery victims resulted Friday in his own detention — for as many as the next eight years.

Dumel Tucker, 21, was sentenced Friday in Albany County Court to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in December to first-degree robbery.

Tucker admitted his involvement in a July 24, 2011, gunpoint robbery at the Friendly’s Restaurant on Loudon Road in Colonie, according to the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. In all, four people were involved in the heist, but only Tucker was arrested. Investigators found him because of the duct tape.

When the four suspects entered the restaurant, five employees were working, but there were no customers. The four gathered the employees and restrained them using duct tape. It was apparently Tucker’s job to bind the employees’ arms and legs.

The robbers took cash and cellphones, as well as money from the restaurant’s safe.

When Colonie police responded, the duct tape used to bind the victims was held as evidence. On the sticky side, it was believed, was the DNA of the person who pulled it from the roll and bound the victims. The tape was sent to the state police lab to be tested, and a profile was developed.

Then, in 2013, Tucker was identified as a match. His DNA had just been put into the state system as he entered prison for a 71⁄2 year sentence in a Kings County robbery, officials said.

Faced with the DNA evidence, Tucker admitted his involvement in the Friendly’s robbery.

He was sentenced Friday by Judge Stephen W. Herrick. The Colonie sentence will run consecutively to Kings County time, for a total of 151⁄2 years behind bars.