Everett police on the hunt for espresso stand robber

EVERETT, Wash. -- Baristas in Everett are on high alert after two local espresso stands were held up in less than a week.

Workers believe the same man is responsible for both robberies, and they're hoping newly released surveillance footage will help put the man behind bars.

Diedrich Espresso owner Jasmine Diedrich was working on Christmas Eve when a man approached the window and demanded cash.

"It was just a complete shock," she said. "We had no idea -- we figured it happened to us once, it's not going to happen again."

Diedrich believes the same man robbed a barista at another of her coffee stands just four days earlier.

"I opened the window and asked what can I get you? And he just handed me a little piece of paper, which I thought was going to be a drink order," said barista Emma Barnes.

It wasn't an order. Instead, the note asked for all the money in the register. Barnes said the man kept his hands in his sweatshirt and never showed a weapon.

"I just gave him the money and he said thank you, which was kind of weird," Barnes said.

The robber is a white man with dark, curly hair. The victims say he appeared to be in his early 20s and he "looked normal." The workers are not just concerned that the man robbed them twice, but that the robberies happened in the middle of the day.

"I always figured if I were going to get robbed it would be in the first couple hours of my shift when it's still dark out," Barnes said.

Diedrich has now spoken with all 30 employees at her coffee stands and is taking more precautions to protect her staff.

"It's scary,' she said. "We've already been hit twice, so it could definitely hit us again. He hit us twice, so we're worried about it."

Everett police are investigating the robberies. In the meantime, baristas at all of Diedrich's stands are not taking walk-up orders from people they don't know.