Print |
E-mail to a friend
NEWS BRIEFS
4 linked to recent robbery spree
Visit www.herald-dispatch.com throughout the day for updates on breaking crime news.
HUNTINGTON -- Four people were behind bars in Cabell County Thursday after being charged in a recent crime spree touching victims on both sides of the Ohio River.
One of the dozen or so victimized by the rash of armed robberies and vehicle break-ins said Thursday she couldn't be happier about news of the arrests after describing her harrowing experience.
Andrea Runge was unloading her vehicle Wednesday, Aug. 25, at her new apartment in the 300 block of 14th Street. She turned from the vehicle and found a gun pointed at her face.
"She was like, 'Give me everything,'" Runge said of her assailant.
Runge, 24, believed her purse was in the apartment, so the assailant said "Let's go," and followed behind with a gun held to the victim's back. The assailant later held the gun's barrel to Runge's throat demanding a personal identification number for a bank card. She estimates the terror lasted for about five minutes.
"My first reaction was, 'Are you serious?' I thought it was a joke," she said. "When a gun is in your face, all you think of is 'Give them what they want.'"
Court documents identify Runge's attacker as 20-year-old Jessica Wormington of South Point, Ohio. She was arrested Wednesday with three others -- William Trent Spaulding, 24, of Scottown, Ohio; Paul Anthony Prichard, 33, of South Point; and Sarah Ellen McDonald, 21, of Huntington and Chesapeake, Ohio.
Huntington Police Department and Lawrence County Sheriff's Office press releases link the foursome to a series of armed robberies and vehicle break-ins. Investigators expect additional charges as the suspects could be linked to as many as 11 to 15 victims.
Huntington Police Lt. John Williams said investigators believe the suspects were unemployed and motivated by monetary gain. The robberies were very similar as the victim would be approached and held at gunpoint. Money would be demanded and the assailants would flee to a parked car nearby. Williams believes they drove around Huntington looking for easy prey.
Another alleged victim was a man from China who was in Huntington, police said. About 12:02 a.m. Tuesday, court documents allege, Spaulding and Prichard accosted the man, who had arrived in the United States on Aug. 25, Huntington Police Detective Chris Sperry said. The victim, whose passport was stolen in the robbery, has been hospitalized because of facial injuries suffered in the attack, Sperry said.
Sperry's persistent questioning after the arrests turned up the Chinese man's passport, as one of the female suspects reportedly told him the victim's property had been stashed in a Harris Riverfront Park garbage can.
Williams hurried to the park. He then was approached by a park employee, while looking through a garbage can. That worker had discovered a fanny pack containing the passport. Both officers were surprised.
"The poor gentleman is over here from China and he loses the only identification he had, which wouldn't even enable him to go back home," Sperry said. "Basically I put myself in his shoes. What would you do?"
Lawrence County deputies recovered another piece of the Chinese man's property -- an electronic translator. Deputies recovered that item from a Burlington, Ohio, residence, where Lawrence County Detective Aaron Bollinger said one of the suspects had left it behind.
The Huntington arrests and interviews of those suspects led Lawrence County deputies to execute a search warrant Wednesday at Prichard and Wormington's residence in South Point. There deputies recovered numerous items, including purses, money, identification, debit/credit cards, checks, electronics, radios, tools and body armor.
Bollinger said investigators believe that evidence could be linked to a series of vehicle break-ins along Ohio 243 and County Road 18 in and near South Point. His department's press release also said some property was stolen from Huntington.
Williams credited Sperry with noticing a vehicle matching the description of one used by the suspect's as it passed by police headquarters. That led to the arrests.
Police identified the suspect vehicle through surveillance video obtained from two convenience stores in West Huntington. Criminal complaints charge McDonald used a stolen credit card at Speedway in the 1500 block of Madison Avenue to obtain about $212 in prepaid gift cards.
Another complaint charges Wormington with using a forged card to obtain another $212 in prepaid gift cards at Sheetz in the 400 block of 18th Street West.
Williams said those forged credit cards were stolen Wednesday from two 19-year-old Marshall University students. Complaints charge that Prichard and Spaulding used a handgun to rob both men. Police used confessions to build both charges, the complaints state.
Video surveillance from the convenience stores provided detectives with a clear picture of the female suspects and their vehicle. Williams said that video showed specific damage to the vehicle, which served as a unique characteristic leading to the arrest.
Two handguns were recovered during the arrests, all of which occurred without incident.
The Marshall University Police Department also assisted in the investigation.
Prichard and Spaulding both were charged with three counts of first-degree robbery. Wormington faces a single count of that offense.
Wormington and Sarah Ellen McDonald each face a single count of fraudulent use of an access device.
Each of the suspects were detained at the Western Regional Jail. Prichard and Spaulding were incarcerated on separate bonds of $120,000.
Wormington's bond was $60,000. McDonald was held on a $10,000 bond.
