Three charged in Broadway armed robbery

The three Cape Girardeau residents arrested Sunday in connection with an armed robbery on Broadway were found by police after they allegedly used the robbery victim's credit card at several area businesses.

The woman and two men arrested -- Stephen R. Johnson, 28, Ombra Dockery, 21, and Susanna Johnston, 45 -- were all charged Tuesday with first-degree robbery. Johnson and Dockery were charged with fraudulent use of a credit device.

The victim of the robbery told police he was walking along Broadway and around 1 a.m. was assaulted by two black men who demanded he give them his belongings. One of the men pressed a gun into his right side, the victim said, and threatened to kill him, wrote officer Jonathan Jensen in a probable-cause affidavit filed in the case. The victim said he threw his wallet and keys toward the men and ran.

Jensen wrote that when he responded to the scene he saw the victim had a swollen left eye that was starting to bruise.

Shortly after the incident, Jensen was contacted by the victim's mother, who said one of her son's stolen credit cards had been used at a local gas station and Walmart. Officers reviewed video from the store's security cameras, which revealed two men attempting to use the card around 1:30 a.m.

Stephen Johnson

Although the men matched the victim's description of his attackers, Jensen said in the affidavit that one of the men also matched a suspect description in the police computer system. After the photograph of the suspect, later identified as Johnson, was released to the media and appeared on the news, Johnson arrived at the police station to be interviewed.

According to the affidavit, Johnson said he was at Walmart around 1:30 a.m. with Dockery but denied being involved with the robbery. Dockery tried to use the credit card, Johnson told officers during his interview.

Dockery, who was already arrested on unrelated charges, later admitted to officers he tried to use the victim's credit card and his involvement in the robbery, wrote Jensen in the

affidavit.

Johnston was contacted by police after they were told possible evidence was found at her residence. Police were also told that Johnston was driving Dockery and Johnson around the evening of the robbery.

Susanna Johnston

Officer Aaron Brown wrote in a probable-cause affidavit that Johnston gave them consent to search her home, where they found the victim's keys and a shirt that matched the description of Johnson given by the victim.

Johnson and Johnston both have prior convictions in Cape Girardeau County. In 2004 and in February, Johnson was convicted of driving with a revoked license; in 2006 he was convicted of third-degree assault. Johnston was convicted of theft in May 2009 and March 2010 and of passing a bad check in 2000.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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