Police say an armed man wearing a fake beard robbed a dry cleaning business Tuesday night but they remain unclear if it is the same culprit believed to be responsible for string of recent robberies.

The man entered Henrie's Dry Cleaners, 218 W. 300 South, just after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, grabbed a female employee and demanded she open the till, said Salt Lake police detective Dennis McGowan.

After receiving an undisclosed amount of money from the till, the man seemed convinced there was a safe and demanded that be opened too, although the woman told him there was no safe, McGowan said. The man eventually left.

The robber apparently was wearing a fake thick beard and mustache, but the rest of the description did not match the one given in similar robberies in recent weeks.

The most recent heist was Sunday at Bob's Magazine and Video, 1207 S. State. In December the Key Bank on 3600 West, the U.S. Bank on Foothill Boulevard and Beehive Credit Union on 2200 East were robbed by a man with a fake beard.

In each of those cases, the man either brandished or insinuated he had a weapon. In most of those incidents, a second person was waiting in a stolen getaway car.

— Pat Reavy