Delivery driver wounded in Poplar Bluff robbery; suspect arrested

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Quick response by county, city and state law enforcement officers led to the arrest of a 42-year-old Wappapello, Mo., man who was jailed in connection with the alleged armed robbery of a Burch Food Co. delivery driver.

The robbery was reported at 11:38 a.m. Friday and occurred at a storage building behind John's Mini-Mart, across from the Briggs & Stratton Plant on Highway 142, at the south edge of Poplar Bluff.

Will Mosley was booked at the Butler County Jail. He faces charges of armed criminal action, first-degree assault with a gun, armed robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon.

At the time of the alleged robbery, the driver was working inside the truck. The suspect, who was wearing a mask resembling one from the movie "Scream" and carrying a revolver ordered him to lie down on the floor of the truck, said Lt. Tim Davis, investigator for the Butler County Sheriff's Department.

The suspect, Davis said, took the driver's keys and used them to open a safe in the truck that contained several money bags. The suspect took the bags from the safe and some that were in a black tote container. The money had been collected from vending machines at various plants in the Poplar Bluff Industrial Park.

The suspect, Davis said, tried to pull the rear door down, but the driver put his foot in the door's path to block it. The suspect reportedly told him to get back into the truck or he would shoot him.

Davis said the suspect fired twice into the back of the truck. The driver sustained two superficial wounds, which possibly resulted from a ricochet, Davis said.

Pertinent address:

Poplar Bluff, MO