Three armed robberies rock Revere

REVERE – Two female employees of a Revere business were bound and gagged with duct tape Wednesday morning during an armed-robbery attempt.Police received a call just before noon Wednesday from a distraught employee of B & S Staffing Rent-A-Person, who alleged three men had just burst into the 10 Winthrop Ave. business, bound two employees with duct tape and kicked down a door before fleeing through a back alley.According to police, a female employee told officers that she exited the bathroom of the business and was approached by three males, dressed in black and wearing black ski masks.Armed with a silver revolver and a large knife, two of the men told her to open a door to an adjacent vacant business space, repeatedly shouting “where is the (expletive)?”She told police that the men became enraged because she did not have a key to the door and did not know what they were looking for, inspiring one member of the group to tie her up with duct tape and place her on the floor. The three men then allegedly forced open the door.During the incident, a second female employee heard the commotion and came out of her office. The men began asking the second women where they could find the (expletive), before ordering her to lock the front door. Police say the men then bound the second woman with duct tape and began tearing through the business.Police say the three men fled the premises through a back door to Aucella Court, a small alleyway behind the business, but left empty handed.The victims were able to free themselves and call police.Police have not made any arrests. The suspects are described as 5-foot-8 with medium skin tone and Latino.Two distraught females sitting outside the business refused comment Wednesday afternoon and calls placed to the business later in the day went unanswered.Panic over the possibility of the suspects breaking into another home caused police to respond quickly to a burglary on Dolphin Avenue shortly after this incident.More than a dozen Revere and state police arrested 36-year-old Barry Southworth in that burglary, after the Haverhill contractor allegedly broke in to a home with a screwdriver looking for money and drugs.Wednesday’s incidents were the second and third robberies in less than two hours in Revere, as police are also investigating a hold up of the Honey Dew Donuts at 304 Squire Road Tuesday night.The cashier told police Tuesday that a white man approached the counter and ordered a coffee around 8 p.m. and reached over and attempted to rip the money from the register. The employee was threatened with a large carving knife.According to police, the cashier retreated at the sight of the knife, but was able to run to the window and read the license plate of the vehicle, which was stolen from a Malden rental company.Police reviewed the surveillance video in the store and say they are looking for a white male in his mid-20s, 6 feet tall with an Old Navy zip jacket and a Red Sox hat. He was wearing black pants and white sneakers, and allegedly riding with a blonde woman.