The clerk behind the desk at Albert Lea’s Super 8 Motel earlier this week when two men wearing ski masks committed an armed robbery said Thursday she thinks if the motel had been properly secured, the situation would not have happened.

Korean Crawford, the clerk, contacted the Tribune late Wednesday night with details of the incident. The owner, in response, said security was not a factor.

Crawford, who was let go the day after the robbery, said the motel’s front parking lot had been paved Monday morning so all traffic into the motel had to come from the back side of the building. But with improper security of the building, the two robbers were able to slip in and commit the act. She said at the time of the incident, she was down in the motel’s laundry room.

She saw two shadows walk into the building on the two-way camera that transmits to the laundry room from the front desk, so she went up to see what the people needed.

When she entered the lobby where the front desk is, there were two men with ski masks, Crawford said. One immediately flashed a box-cutter and the other had his hand in his pocket with what appeared to be a gun. One man had lighter skin and one had darker, tan skin.

They demanded the money and told her if she gave it to them she wouldn’t get hurt, she said.

To avoid getting hurt, she turned over the money — which totaled $1,027 in cash.

They didn’t take any change and were in and out of the motel in a matter of minutes, she said.

No one was injured.

Crawford claimed the facility does not have proper security and that if it had — like several of the other motels and hotels in the area — this would not have happened.

Arun Subbiah, owner of the motel, said while it is true that there was more traffic around the backside of the motel because of the work on the front side, he does not think security played a factor in this case.

He said he thinks the security system in place at the motel is sufficient, but there can always be room for improvement.

“We’ve never had an incident where someone has showed a knife for at least five or six years,” Subbiah said.

Because of that, he thought the incident seemed strange.