Brother, sister sought in July robbery of 14-year-old

Police were on the lookout Thursday for a Cape Girardeau brother and sister, a day after prosecutors labeled them attackers in the July beating and robbery of a 14-year-old boy.

Sierra L. Irions, 18, and Ryan G. Irions, 17, were not in custody Thursday, but a judge had signed arrest warrants and set individual bonds at $30,000. Single counts of second-degree robbery against the siblings mean they could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Ryan Irions lists two phone numbers on his Facebook page, but one didn't work and messages left on the second went unreturned.

A probable-cause statement filed by Cape Girardeau Police Department patrolman Ryan Droege in Cape Girardeau Circuit Court gave details behind the charges.

The attack took place at about 11 p.m. July 21, as the 14-year-old and three friends were walking on Perryville Road toward Capaha Park. The boy had fallen about 40 feet behind the others as he sent a text message.

That's when a black car pulled alongside him and four people -- three men and a woman -- got out and gave chase. They caught him, pulled him to the ground and began "punching and kicking" him, the statement says.

As he was beaten, the boy would later tell police, one of his assailants reached into his pockets and took two cellphones.

The boy reported an assault to police at 11:42 p.m., almost an hour after it happened. The statement refers to it as a "delayed assault report."

One of the boys who was walking with the victim gave a similar account of events, according to the court filing. One detail he added was that the attack lasted about 30 seconds.

Nothing happened with the case for almost three months.

On Oct. 13, according to Droege's statement, the victim's mother stopped by the Cape Girardeau Police Department and told officers her son had just seen two of the four people who had robbed him in July. She had been driving her son along Broadway toward McDonald's when he became noticeably nervous and upset.

When she pressed him, the boy told her that he had seen two of the individuals who "jumped" him. After dropping off her son at home, the mother returned to the fast-food restaurant, and followed the two individuals identified by her son to an address on nearby Sunset Boulevard.

At that address police made contact with the grandmother of Ryan and Sierra Irions. Sierra Irions denied the charges in a phone interview with police. The officer prepared photographic lineups of both suspects and the victim identified them as the individuals who had robbed him.

The witness also picked the two from a lineup that included six photos. The victim has since turned 15.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, Mo.