Two Illinois men arrested in connection with robbery in Cape

Editor's Note: The spelling of Darin Hickey's name was corrected below.

Two men have been arrested and charged in connection with a robbery in downtown Cape Girardeau on Tuesday.

Marcus M. Nelson, 32, of Cairo, Illinois, and Robert D. Rodriguez, 28, of East St. Louis, Illinois, are charged with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action, both felonies.

The two were pulled over by a sheriff's deputy in St. Genevieve County around 3:10 p.m., after they allegedly had robbed a man in the 300 block of West Lorimier Street, said Darin Hickey, public information officer for the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

The victim, whom Hickey said was familiar with one of his assailants, was meeting the men in a parking lot to discuss buying a car. Instead, one of the men pulled a gun on him and demanded money, Hickey said. Nelson and Rodriguez allegedly made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, although scanner traffic Tuesday indicated a sum of about $5,000.

The victim called police, who issued a notice to other law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for a gray Chevrolet Impala with out-of-state plates. The car had reached the St. Genevieve area before a sheriff's deputy there recognized the description and pulled the car over.

Nelson and Rodriguez each are being held in the St. Genevieve County Sheriff's Office Detention Center on $150,000 cash-only bond, Hickey said.

Pertinent address:

300 block of West Lorimier Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.