SALEM - An arrest has been made in the latest robbery at Circle K on East State Street, but Det. Dave Talbert of the Salem Police Department said more arrests may be pending.
Justin A. Zimmerly, 25, of Petersburg, was taken into custody Thursday afternoon at a residence in Salem on a warrant for aggravated robbery, a second-degree felony which could carry a possible sentence of two to eight years if he's convicted.
He's already facing felony charges of receiving stolen property, forgery and possession of drugs in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court for allegedly writing a check belonging to someone else in April 2011 and possessing heroin in June 2010.
According to the Clerk of Courts website, he was scheduled to appear in court Thursday, with a trial set for next week, but instead a bench warrant was issued for him.
The store which was robbed two other times in the last nine months by a knife-wielding suspect was robbed for the third time late Sunday night. Talbert said during a search of a residence in the area of Circle K, evidence was found that implicated Zimmerly, prompting him to issue the arrest warrant.
Due to information gathered at the scene, Talbert said more arrests may be pending when the remaining part of the investigation is presented to the county grand jury. He indicated more than one person was involved in the robbery and video from the store corroberates information the police were being given to show more than one person was involved.
Talbert also said the motive appeared to be drug-related. The suspect entered the store at 11:28 p.m. and approached the male cashier while wearing a tobaggan hat with eye holes pulled over his face. He did not go behind the counter, but demanded money from the cash register and fled east on foot after taking an undisclosed amount of cash. Besides the clerk, one customer was in the rear of the store at the time.
The two previous incidents, on Oct. 22 and on March 25, both resulted in arrests with the cases still pending in Common Pleas Court against Travis Weese for the March incident and Cliff Lake for the October incident. They're both facing felony charges related to the robberies.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net
