Akron men wanted in connection with June 9 vape store armed robbery
Three Akron men are wanted in connection with a June 9 armed robbery at a Kent vape store.
Arrest warrants were issued Wednesday for Quartrez Marquise Spy, 21, Jovi Romello Proctor, 25, and Joseph K. C. Moore, 20, according to Portage County Municipal Court in Kent records.
Spy and Proctor are charged with aggravated robbery ahd kidnapping and Moore is charged with complicity to aggravated robbery and complicity to kidnapping. All of the charges are first-degree felonies.
Kent police said two men entered Lightly Toasted Glass and Vapors, 247 N. Water St., at just after 3 p.m. on June 9. One brandished a gun at the clerk and the men took an unidentified amount of cash and some merchandise. They then left through the store's rear door and fled in a a gray, four-door Chevrolet sedan.
Kent Police Lt. Mike Lewis said Thursday that a short time after the robbery, Brimfield police stopped a vehicle because it seemed to fit the description of the car used by the robbery suspects. Lewis said there was not enough evidence at the time to hold the three individuals in the vehicle and Brimfield police let them go.
Lewis, however, said Spy, Proctor and Moore were identified as the individuals in the stopped car and subsequent investigation led to the charges.
"Our belief is that [Moore] was driving the vehicle and he was waiting outside while the other two were in the store committing the robbery," said Lewis.
The kidnapping and complicity to kidnapping charges are due to a subsection within state law defining kidnapping.
"So what happened was when they pointed the firearm at the store clerk and made the store clerk move around inside the store and move to the back of the store, they restrained their liberty and forced that person to move from one place to another against their will and that's kidnapping," said Lewis.
The robbery followed a similar armed robbery of Flash Vapes on East Main Street, near the Kent State Unioversity camopus, on May 27. A 17-year-old Brimfield boy was arrested June 1 and charged with second-degree felony robbery in Portage County Juvenile Court in that robbery and the two incidents are not believed to be related.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Akron men wanted in connection with June 9 vape store armed robbery
