Two men face charges in armed robbery

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. -- Two men are in custody following an armed robbery in Portageville.

Brandon Lee Johnson, 21, of Slidell, Louisiana, and Kevin L. Sago, 30, of New Madrid, Missouri, are charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and three felony charges of kidnapping, facilitating a felony, inflicting injury and terrorizing in connection with a robbery at a Portageville business.

Mark Stockton, a detective at the Portageville Police Department, said officers received a report of an armed robbery in progress at a business owned by Jimmy Caldwell at 1304 U.S. 61 in Portageville at noon Thursday.

The three victims said they were working in the shop when a man allegedly entered wearing a black ski mask and tan pants. The man, later identified as Johnson, held them at gunpoint and "demanded money and weed from them and a wanted a man with dreads to help produce these items," according to the probable-cause statement.

After the victims emptied their pockets, they told Johnson they did not have anything to give him.

"He threatened to kill them if they did not produce the man with dreads and money and weed," Stockton said.

The men were then ordered into another room in the shop building and Johnson fled.