Authorities arrest suspect in Northwestern Wisconsin armed robberies

Authorities in Sawyer County have arrested a man suspected of committing at least four armed robberies across Northwestern Wisconsin in the past week.
Hayward police said Joseph G. Cobb, 26, of Lac du Flambeau, Wis., was arrested after a traffic stop just outside of Hayward on Wednesday and admitted to his involvement in Tuesday’s armed robbery of the Flat Creek Inn & Suites in Hayward.
Hayward Police Chief Joel Clapero said Cobb also admitted to robbing a Dairy Queen in Rice Lake, Wis., on March 5 and is a suspect in a pair of armed robberies of Super 8 motels early Wednesday - one in Ashland and the other in Superior. Investigators from Superior were headed to Hayward to question Cobb, Clapero said Thursday. It was not clear whether Cobb might be linked to a second armed robbery in Superior this week, at a Krist gas station on Monday night.
Meanwhile, Iron River police reported Thursday that they interviewed Cobb about suspicious activity at a motel in that community on March 4. They said he confessed to attempting to rob the Lumbermen's Inn.
"He went in with a mask and a fake handgun," Iron River police reported on the department's Facebook page. "Because (the motel has) no night clerk he climbed over the counter, opened the drawer and saw that it was empty, then he left."
A Sawyer County sheriff's deputy arrested Cobb at about 2 p.m. Wednesday on Wheeler Road just east of Hayward, Clapero said. He was with Cody Demarr, 19, of Hayward man, who police said admitted to being involved in the Rice Lake Dairy Queen robbery, but not the other cases.
Authorities recovered a hammer used in the Rice Lake robbery and a black plastic BB gun - which looked very much like a real handgun, Clapero said - that was used in the Hayward robbery.
Cobb is being held at the Sawyer County Jail on a $20,000 cash bond, Hayward police reported. Demarr is being held at the Barron County (Wis.) Jail pending formal charges.