The Speedway gas station's clerk was allegedly one of four local teens involved in planning the robbery on South Locust Street Saturday morning.
Four local teens have been arrested after a robbery at the Speedway gas station on South Locust Street.
The station's clerk, Jeremi Gentry, 19, has been charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors for planning the robbery with three of his friends.
Gentry reportedly called police Saturday morning at almost 2 a.m. and reported a robbery of the cash drawer by an assailant wearing a ski mask and holding a gun. He described the man as six feet tall, thin build and wearing blue and white pajama pants and a ski mask.
Sgt. Jim Squance of the Oxford Police Department (OPD) said officers viewed the Speedway's surveillance videos and saw that the male robber was actually wearing grey or tan pants and a tan jacket with a furry liner.
Later in the evening, Squance said that patrolling officers in the area questioned two suspicious individuals on foot around the gas station area. The two unnamed subjects gave police information that led to the arrest of Gentry and his friends. The two were allegedly acquaintances of the four individuals charged.
"I'm not sure what the interview techniques the inquiring officers used," Squance said. "The interview (of the two subjects) led to the questioning of the clerk and his friends. It all went down hill from there for (the four arrested)."
Squance said the case was cleared by Monday. Oxford resident Gentry and Hamilton resident Joshua Earls, 18, were identified as well as an unnamed juvenile girl, 17, and boy, 15. All four have been charged with a felonious theft charge. Gentry is additionally charged with a felonious count of receiving stolen property as well as misdemeanor charges of making a false report and obstructing official business. Earls and Gentry were reportedly incarcerated at Butler County Jail.
Squance said that the charges pending could mean some serious legal problems for the young conspirators.
"Obviously this was not a very well concocted plan," Squance said. "It's been my experience that when you have a robbery in a gas station like this case, the suspect could easily be affiliated with the employee."
Linda Casey, the manager of communications for Marathon Petroleum, the parent company of Speedway, said that Gentry's case is not typical of her experience with past incidences at gas station robberies.
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"This is an unusual circumstance," Casey said. "Speedway employees are respected for their honesty and integrity. It is unfortunate that such a young person would be in this troubling legal position. It certainly affects lives negatively when this happens."
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