Porter Police are investigating an armed robbery that took place Monday afternoon at the Travel Center of America at 1600 West U.S. Highway 20.

According to police, at approximately 5:35 p.m. officers were dispatched to the business and were advised by an employee that an older male subject had walked up to the counter with a black small compact hand gun pointed at her and demanded money. The employee emptied out the bills in the cash register and placed them in a plastic bag, police said.

The employee then handed the bag to the subject who turned around and walked out the front door, police said. According to the employee’s description, the subject got into a “peacock blue color” S-10 or Ford Ranger style pick-up truck and took off in an unknown direction, police said.

Police secured the scene and dusted for fingerprints but could not find any. The store’s video surveillance shows the subject to be an older white male, approximately 240 lbs., 6’ 2” in height, wearing an orange shirt, tan pants, white bushy hair, medium length white beard and black sunglasses on top of his head, police said.

An officer on patrol stopped a vehicle with a Porter man matching the description of the suspect traveling eastbound on U.S. 20, police said. The man was called out at gun point and detained while the officer searched his vehicle, police said. After the officer did not locate any evidence of the crime and further description of the suspect ruled him out, the Porter resident was cleared of any involvement and released, police said.

Police said the amount stolen from the register was $1,647.