TWO SUSPECTS ARRESTED AFTER A ROBBERY THAT OCCURED AT FAMILY DOLLAR WEST PORTSMOUTH

Scioto County Sheriff Marty V. Donini announces that his 911 center received a call on July 24, 2018 at 10:04 pm from a clerk at Family Dollar located at 22950 ST RT 73 West Portsmouth Ohio stating that they had just been robbed.

Captain John W. Murphy stated that deputies and detectives responded to this location where a report was filed that started an all night long investigation. The clerk stated that a male and a female entered the store and loaded up an entire buggy full of merchandise. The female attempted to push the buggy out of the store when the clerk stood in front of her the female suspect then started pushing the buggy into the clerk that is when the male suspect started cussing and pushed the clerk away so that he could grab the stolen property. Both suspects fled the area in a small red Sonoma pickup truck.

Captain John W. Murphy stated that detectives were able to collect evidence from inside the store which led them to be able to identify the two suspects, that turned into an all night long search for the suspects that included several locations throughout the county.

On Wednesday July 25 at approximately 1:00 pm detectives were able to locate the suspect’s truck parked on the side of the road near the 1600 block of 7th street Portsmouth, Ohio. Detectives with the assistance of the Portsmouth Police Department were able to recover the truck that had been reported stolen. After talking to people in the neighborhood detectives were able to determine that the suspects were possibly inside a house located at 1622 7th Street. Portsmouth Ohio. After making contact with the owner detectives were able to arrest both suspects without incident.

Arrested were Johnny Howard age 47 of Portsmouth, Ohio and Kayla Johnson age 32 of Portsmouth, Ohio. Both suspects have been charged with one count of robbery a felony of the 2nd degree, one count of receiving stolen property a felony of the 5th degree and one count of receiving stolen property a felony of the 4th degree. Both are currently being held in the Scioto County jail with a $80,000.00 bond and will appear in Portsmouth Municipal Court on Thursday July 26, 2018

Sheriff Donini stated that this is still an ongoing investigation that could result in more charges being presented to the grand jury on a later date. Anyone with information should contact Detective Jodi Conkel at 740-351-1091