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Stolen money is returned; man arrested
HUBBARD
The Flying J truck stop got back most of the money from a robbery Saturday night after it was returned, said Hubbard Township Police Chief Todd Coonce.
An arrest was made Friday morning in the robbery.
The robbery occurred at 9 p.m. last Saturday at the U.S. Route 62 business after a man in his 30s entered and lit a cigarette, Coonce said.
“The sales clerk said, ‘Sir, you can’t smoke here,’ and he didn’t say anything,” Coonce said.
He said she repeated to the man that he couldn’t smoke, and she said she would get her manager.
“That’s when he pulled out a gun and stuck it in her face,” Coonce said, adding the manager immediately came over and told the robber to take whatever he wanted.
He took the money out of the drawer and told the two to get on the floor and count to 100, Coonce said.
Witnesses saw him get into a dark-colored car.
Coonce said Sunday evening, the Flying J got a call from a woman about the money that was “borrowed last night.”
The caller said it could be found in a trash barrel on their property, but to get there quickly before someone else found it, Coonce said.
The Flying J called the police. Officers found it there, he said.
Coonce said 95 percent of the money is there. He would not say how much money was stolen, adding that stores don’t like to reveal how much cash they have on their premises.
Gary A. Ambrose, 38, of Everett East Road, Hubbard, surrendered at Girard Municipal Court accompanied by his legal counsel, according to the police department’s Facebook page. He was arrested and arraigned on one count of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony. Bond was set by the court at $100,000, 10 percent cash or surety, and he was transported to the Trumbull County Jail.
A preliminary hearing has been set for 9 a.m. Wednesday.