The Dispatch

LEXINGTON — The Lexington man arrested last week in connection with the robbery of a Salisbury Family Dollar store and a string of other crimes was formerly known for traveling the country and sharing his story of drug abuse and recovery.

Richard Macon Dunn, 32, was arrested in Winston-Salem early Thursday after a series of robberies, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

Dunn was previously known for holding drug interventions across the country and speaking at seminars regarding drug and alcohol abuse. He is a certified alcohol and drug counselor, certified substance abuse counselor and challenge course practitioner. In May, he held a seminar at Lexington’s First Baptist Church on West Third Avenue.

He has been linked to robberies in Lexington, Thomasville, Danville, Virginia and Salisbury.

The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office has charged Dunn with speeding to elude arrest, driving while impaired, speeding, resisting, delaying and obstructing, hit and run and a fugitive warrant out of Virginia.

The Lexington Police Department charged Dunn with armed robbery in connection to a robbery at 7-Eleven, and the Thomasville Police Department charged him in connection to a robbery at the Dollar General on Julian Avenue on Wednesday.

A female passenger, identified as Cassandra Dee Tedder, 27, was also taken into custody.

(On Tuesday, according to Salisbury Police, Dunn ate a meal at Waffle House, 501 E. Innes St., in Salisbury, and skipped out on paying, warrants said. Sometime later, he was caught on surveillance video at a Family Dollar store in Salisbury during a robbery.)

The Lexington Police Department said that on Wednesday at approximately 5:17 a.m., officers responded to an armed robbery at the 7-Eleven on Cotton Grove Road. Macon threatened the clerk with a knife and left the store with an undisclosed amount of money and drove away in a black 2014 Ford Fusion.

According to a release from the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 2:12 a.m. Thursday, a Sheriff’s Office deputy observed a Ford Fusion traveling on U.S. Highway 421 North near Lewisville-Clemmons Road. After learning that the vehicle was linked to recent robberies, the deputy attempted to stop the vehicle. But Dunn, the driver, accelerated to over 100 mph, according to the authorities.

The Sheriff’s Office said that the pursuit continued through Lewisville along Shallowford Road to Country Club Road where it entered the Winston-Salem city limits. The vehicle continued into the parking lot of the Walmart near the intersection of Country Club Road and Meadowlark Drive where Tedder jumped from the vehicle, which was moving at a low speed.

Tedder was taken into custody, while Macon continued to flee. The vehicle continued for a short distance before it collided with an unoccupied vehicle in the parking lot of the Brookberry Park Apartment Complex on Murphy Lane.

Dunn is being held at the Forsyth County Detention Center with no bond and a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 22. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office had no charges for Tedder related the vehicle pursuit. However, other law enforcement agencies are currently interviewing Tedder related to the respective robbery investigations.