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Police arrest 2 suspects in gas station robbery spree
Police believe the couple may be responsible for more robberies.
GIRARD — City police have arrested two people believed to be responsible for armed robberies at several area gas stations.
Franky Munoz, 32, of Salt Springs Road, Youngstown, has been charged with aggravated robbery. He is being held in Trumbull County Jail on $75,000 bond.
A 19-year-old woman living with Munoz will likely be charged with complicity to aggravated robbery. Police say she drove a getaway car after some of the robberies. She was taken out of the Girard police station in handcuffs by a Niles police officer Tuesday.
According to police reports, Munoz entered the Shell Gas Station on North State Street just after 2 p.m. Sunday and asked the attendant for change. Once the drawer was opened, he demanded all of the money.
Munoz, reports say, ordered the two employees working in the store into a back room, threatening to shoot them both if they did not comply. One of the attendants reported seeing a small handgun tucked in his waistband.
Detective Greg Manente said a kidnapping charge may be filed against Munoz for locking the employees in the back room of the gas station.
Munoz stole about $1,000 in cash, reports say. He was arrested during a traffic stop Tuesday and later identified in a police lineup. In his possession, police found a toy gun and $500 in cash believed to have been taken from the gas station.
Manente said the North State Street gas station robbery is only the last in what appears to be a series of armed robberies.
According to Manente, Munoz is believed to be responsible for the armed robbery of a McQuaid’s gas station in Austintown on Nov. 2 and another McQuaid’s station in Weathersfield Township within the last few weeks.
Police have video surveillance footage they believe shows Munoz entering the store at one of the robberies.
Manente said there may be other robberies not yet attributed to Munoz.
“There was a span of a month or more between the one in Austintown and the one in Weathersfield Township, so we don’t know where else he may have hit. I doubt if he just stopped during that time,” he said.
Manente said Munoz has a criminal record consisting of weapons and drug charges. He said Munoz and his female companion may have been using the stolen money to buy OxyContin pills.
jgoodwin@vindy.com