Police: Ex-Con Battered Clerk Over Mask Rule

JULY 12--An ex-con whose rap sheet includes an assortment of felonies and state prison stays was arrested yesterday after allegedly battering a Florida convenience store clerk who asked him to put on a mask or leave the business, police report.

According to investigators, Treg Palmore, 49, was not wearing a mask when he entered a Marathon gas station food center around 5:20 PM Saturday. After an employee at the St. Petersburg business asked Palmore to “put on a mask or leave the store,” Palmore refused to depart.

When worker Bola Rizk walked out from behind the counter and again asked Palmore to leave, “the defendant then struck the victim in the head and arm.”

The incident was recorded by a store surveillance camera, noted an officer who wrote that Rizk suffered a minor injury to his forearm.

Seen above, Palmore fled the scene in a car, but was subsequently apprehended and charged with felony battery. He was booked into the county jail, from which he was released early this morning on $2500 bond.

Palmore’s rap sheet includes convictions for armed robbery; burglary; cocaine possession; battery; trespassing; theft; stalking; probation violation; resisting police; and violating a domestic violence protection injunction. Since 1989, Palmore has served five separate state prison terms totaling more than 10 years behind bars. (1 page)