Police: Suspects arrested in armed robbery

TAYLORSVILLE – Police arrested four people after a fast food employee reported an armed robbery near a Taylorsville convenience store.

Nino Pullins, 20, Indianapolis, was arrested on preliminary charges of armed robbery with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, said Edinburgh Deputy Police Chief David Lutz.

The incident happened at about 6 a.m. Tuesday when a 56-year-old employee who works at the nearby McDonald’s restaurant was walking toward Thornton’s convenience store, at U.S. 31 and Market Place Drive, near the Edinburgh Premium Outlets, Lutz said.

A car that had earlier gone through the restaurant’s drive-thru stopped near the employee, and the female driver, later identified as Jacqueline Montgomery, 21, of Indianapolis, made a sexual proposition to the employee, Lutz said.

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As the man walked away, a man identified as Pullins got out of the back seat, approached the employee and then pulled out a gun and pointed it at the victim’s chest, Lutz said.

After demanding money, credit cards and cellphone, the victim turned over his cellphone and less than $20 cash, Lutz said.

When the victim said he didn’t have a billfold, the suspect became agitated and raised the gun to the victim’s face, Lutz said.

After the victim continued to tell Pullins he didn’t have a wallet, Pullins got back into the car and the vehicle left, Lutz said. The victim, who was not hurt, notified police about the incident.

After learning a description of the car, and that it was heading north on U.S. 31, Johnson County sheriff deputies spotted the vehicle traveling north on U.S. 31 at a high rate of speed near the south side of Franklin, Lutz said.

The car was stopped during a felony traffic stop as it approached West Jefferson Street, Lutz said. Pullins was found sitting on the victim’s money and cellphone — with the gun found at his feet, Lutz said.

Franklin police, Indiana State Police and Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies assisted at the scene.

Pullins was considered especially dangerous because he was one of two men charged with murder and robbery in connection with a July 20, 2015 killing of a 16-year-old Indianapolis resident, Lutz said.

Both he and Demetrius Woodson were originally accused of killing Bryvonte Lee because they didn’t like the $100 price of a shotgun the teenage victim was trying to sell them, according to court documents.

Although Woodson is scheduled to stand trial for murder and robbery July 10 in Marion Superior Court, charges against Pullins were dismissed Oct. 18, 2015, court records state.

Pullins and Montgomery are being held without bond in the Bartholomew County Jail after Tuesday’s incident, jail officials said.

Montgomery and another Indianapolis woman, Mya Johnson, 18, was booked on preliminary charges of assisting a criminal, jail officials said.  A similar preliminary charge was filed against a 17-year-old female juvenile who was also in the car, Lutz said.

Johnson, who was on probation for shoplifting from a store in the Edinburgh Premium Outlets, also is being held on a body attachment, arrest records state.

The office of Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash will determine what, if any, criminal charges will be filed against the four suspects accused in the armed robbery.