GREENFIELD — Four Indianapolis teenagers are in jail accused of robbing two Hancock County gas stations overnight this week while armed with handguns.
A group of teens reportedly entered the Speedway station at Mt. Comfort Road and U.S. 40 just before midnight Monday and demanded money from the clerk. Investigators say about 10 minutes later the same group of boys entered the Circle K at Interstate 70 and Mt. Comfort Road and threatened the employee there, as well.
The robbers made off with about $400 total and dozens of cigars and packs of cigarettes, court documents state.
After the crimes were reported, police stopped a car on I-70 at the State Road 9 exit that matched a description of the robbers’ car given by a witness, court documents state. The teens inside matched the description of the alleged thieves and they were taken into custody, court documents state.
The four suspects — 17-year-old William Dodd, 17-year-old Nicholas Wilburn, 17-year-old Dalyn Whitfield and 16-year-old Joseph Holmes — have been charged as adults and made their first court appearance Thursday morning.
Each faces two Level 3 felony counts of armed robbery. The counts are punishable by up to 16 years in prison.
The teens have pleaded not guilty to the allegations. Each was being held in the Hancock County Jail at press time on a $12,000 cash bond.
The two gas stations that were robbed are about 3 miles from one another.
The clerk at Speedway told police the robbers entered her store around 11:30 p.m. Monday. As they approached her, they raised a handgun and demanded she open the cash register for them, court documents state.
As she made her way around the counter, she watched as the robbers grabbed cigars off the counters and pocketed them, she told police.
At one point, a customer walked in, the clerk told police. One of the teens jumped up on the check-out counter, pointed the gun at the man and demanded his wallet, the woman said. When the man refused to hand his belongings over, the suspects ran off, the clerk said, according to court documents.
Security camera footage from inside the Speedway confirmed the clerk’s story, police said.
A short time later, a group of armed teenagers — who matched the description of those who had just robbed Speedway — entered the Circle K, court documents state.
The clerk there told police the robbers told him several times they were going to kill him, according to reports.
They took money from the cash register along with cigars and cigarettes from the shelves before they fled, the clerk told police.
The robbers took about $180 from Speedway and $230 from Circle K, investigators determined.
A customer who was pumping gas outside the Circle K and witnessed the robbery called 911 and gave a description of a car that fled the area, court documents state.
Police stopped the vehicle as it was exiting the interstate onto State Road 9. Dodd, Wilburn, Whitfield and Holmes were arrested at that time.
Inside, officers found money, two handguns, ammunition, four cellphones and various tobacco products, police said. Some of the cigars and cigarettes were packed into a Speedway shopping bag, court documents state.