The footprints in the snow helped.

That’s what Riverside police Deputy Chief Michael Brown is crediting — partially — in the arrest of a 28-year-old Riverside man police think could be responsible for as many as five armed robberies in January.

Timothy Cox was arrested Wednesday at a residence in the 5000 block of Penn Avenue and taken to the Montgomery County Jail, where he’s being detained on federal charges of forgery and theft, Brown told News Center 7’s Kate Bartley.

Police were led to the Penn Avenue address after people called police to report seeing a man running through the snow across U.S. 35 minutes after someone robbed a NAPA Auto Parts store, 4251 Linden Ave., the night of Jan. 25. Whoever robbed that business was armed with a black handgun and made off with cash. Police search a bike path near U.S. 35 that night, but did not find anyone.

“There was still snow on the ground, and we were actually able to follow some tracks,” Brown said Wednesday.

Police investigators got a look at surveillance video from that robbery on Wednesday. In it, the robber wipes his feet as he walks into the store and then shows a handgun.

Police think that handgun will tie Cox to as many as five recent robberies.

The robber “displayed a weapon in all five robberies, a dark semi-auto handgun,” Brown said.

These are the incidents police are hoping to tie to Cox:

* An Advanced Auto Parts store robbery in Riverside.

* A Penn Station sandwich shop robbery in Riverside.

* Saturday, Jan. 12: Domino’s Pizza, at Linden Avenue and Spinning Road, was robbed by a gunman who took money and an employee’s extended cab Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.

* Wednesday, Jan. 16: Yum Yum’s drive-thru, on Spinning Road, was robbed by a man driving a 1995 extended cab Chevy Silverado who displayed a handgun and demanded cash. The truck was found on Fairport Avenue in Dayton.

* Friday, Jan. 25: The Napa Auto Parts robbery.

Cox is to be in court Thursday morning.