Fayetteville, N.C. — Three members of a Fayetteville family have been charged in connection with 12 convenience store robberies on Yadkin, Raeford and Reilly roads over the past five months, police said Monday.

A Fayetteville police officer was in the parking lot early Sunday of Scotchman convenience store, at 6508 Yadkin Road, when he saw Erin Whitmeyer, 44, leave that store and get into a vehicle. As he followed the vehicle in his patrol car, a report that the store had been robbed by a woman matching Whitmeyer's description came over the radio, police said.

He stopped the vehicle, found an undisclosed amount of cash believed to be stolen from the store and took Whitmeyer into custody, police said.

Investigators later determined that Whitmeyer allegedly used a knife to rob the same store shortly after midnight on April 18.

Just a few hours earlier, on April 17, her son, Scott Whitmeyer Jr., 20, was arrested for attempting to rob a Sunoco gas station a few blocks away, at 6295 Yadkin Road. Police said Scott Whitmeyer Jr. took out a knife and demanded money from the clerk, at which point a customer overpowered and detained him until police arrived.

On Dec. 12, police said, the same Sunoco gas station was robbed by a knife-wielding man who investigators believe is Erin Whitmeyer's husband and Scott Whitmeyer Jr.'s father.

Scott Christopher Whitmeyer, 42, was arrested shortly after that robbery and charged in connection with nine other armed robberies within a few miles' radius dating back to November.

Included in the list of businesses Scott Whitmeyer is charged with robbing between Nov. 26 and Dec. 12 is the Scotchman convenience store his wife allegedly robbed twice this month, police said.

All three Whitmeyers, who live in the 500 block of Quimby Court, were in the Cumberland County jail Monday.

Erin Whitmeyer faces one count of common law robbery and one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon and was being held under a $20,000 bond.

Scott Whitmeyer Jr. faces one count of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and was being held under a $50,000 bond.

Scott Whitmeyer faces 10 counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of second-degree kidnapping and one count of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was being held under a $120,000 bond.

Police have not commented on the family's motives or whether they were working together in the robbery spree.